Roots
by taskforce
Summary: When Yggdrasil detects an anomaly in a deserted realm, a probe is sent to investigate, but the secrets they discover may destroy the tenuous peace between Heaven and Hell. But the greatest threat may come from within...
1. M11397X4

Here's my first attempt at any kind of fanfiction, so please let me know how it goes. It is my hope that you will find it enjoyable!

Disclaimer: Oh My Goddess!/ Ah! My Goddess! does not belong to me.

Acknowledgements: Much of this story is based upon the universe spun by Davner in his series _Blessings: Broken Bow_. His material used by permission, with a sincere thanks from myself.

And now, Chapter one...

* * *

_The place had never been given a name. The data entry listed its designation as M11397X4._

Rota took in the bleak scenery of the realm impassively as her team members set up a preliminary perimeter. There really wasn't much here to give this place distinction. It was just a jumbled collection of rock and dust—the leftover fragments of a thousand different worlds, or perhaps the seeds of those worlds far into the future.

The valkrie shook her head. _That_ was ultimately up to the Almighty, and was of no importance to her or this mission. What she did note, however, was that the realm's 'scenery' could provide excellent cover to a host of enemies, if any were out there.

_It was a three-dimensional realm, and a fairly unremarkable one. Uninhabited, forbidding, and utterly barren, it had been deemed unsuitable for colonization or even anything more than marginal acknowledgement._

She touched her hand to the communicator on her collar, speaking louder in response to the wind's howl. "Command, Windrunner Actual. We have arrived on station and are setting up preliminary defenses."

888

Back at the tactical operations center, a junior goddess on the comms board logged the report.

"Roger, Windrunner," she replied. "We'll stand by for further word." She turned her head to the side, her blond tresses shaking with the movement as she examined the impassive expression of the god standing to the left of her seat.

Celestin folded his arms across his chest. The dark-haired god had been in the TOC ever since Windrunner had departed, hovering near the comms panel.

"Lord Celestin, perhaps you would feel more comfortable with a chair to sit on or something of that nature?" the goddess asked. "It might be some time before Windrunner has anything of interest to report."

The god continued to stare ahead, seemingly lost in his thoughts. She wondered if he had even heard what she had said.

"No," he finally spoke. "No, I'll be fine like this." The goddess didn't question him further. She was slightly uncomfortable with the presence of the councilor. He was distant, speaking only when necessary, and his presence in the TOC was highly irregular to begin with. Having him looking over her shoulder for the whole day had only heightened her unease.

Behind them, the entrance to the TOC opened. In strode a company-grade officer with a young goddess in tow. He made his way purposefully towards the comms board.

"Lord Celestin," the captain bowed courteously, "It is a pleasure to have you here to observe our duties here."

Celestin bowed his head slightly. "Gwydion. I'm glad I finally have a chance to meet you. Your skills are… renowned." He turned slightly to face Gwydion's companion. "And you, Lind…I have heard of you as well."

Gwydion suppressed a flash of anger. Celestin's subtle barb towards his student's one-winged angel and the deformity to her soul it implied disgusted him.

The corner of Celestin's mouth quirked upwards in a nearly invisible smirk before smoothing back down into a mask. "Is something upsetting you, Gwydion?" he asked.

Gwydion let his emotions cool. There was no reason to be upset by the councilor's verbal sparring. "No, my lord," he replied softly. Turning to face the comms board he glanced over the screens. "I simply wanted to see if anything had progressed with the Windrunner probe, and give my student some experience with how missions are run."

"I see," Celestin turned back to the display himself. "You anticipate no difficulties in tracking down the spike of energy Yggdrasil detected in M11397X4 days ago, then?"

Gwydion shook his head. "No. I'd say that about ninety-nine percent of the time, this sort of event turns out to be rather harmless."

The councilor pondered that. "And the other one percent?"

The avenging angel's lip twisted slightly. "That's the reason we send out a combat-ready team. We don't believe in taking chances." _Anymore than we have to, that is…_

Celestin nodded thoughtfully. "A wise attitude, that." He turned his head towards the officer. "The council has heard your name mentioned more than once, Captain. I confess, I was curious, so I pulled your service jacket. It makes for…fascinating…reading."

Once again, Gwydion suppressed a surge of anger and annoyance. Celestin's tone made it sound like he had vivisected the avenging angel and was looking to see if he measured up to expectations. "Words very rarely tell the whole story," he managed to say.

Celestin surprised him by smiling ever so slightly. "As well they shouldn't. Though I must say I was impressed. That business with the demon attack was superbly handled. Your commission was well deserved. You do credit to the Gatekeepers." The god paused to let the compliment sink in. "It seemed all too fantastic to me, so I hoped I would be able to meet you and judge you for myself."

A brittle smile formed on the officer's face. "And do I measure up?" Gwydion asked, realizing he was bordering on insubordination. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Lind paying close attention to the conversation. He felt slightly ashamed in the example he was setting, but this _politician_ was pissing him off.

Celestin was enjoying his game. "So far I've seen nothing to make me doubt your excellence—"

A squawk from the comm interrupted the bloodless duel. "Command, Windrunner Actual."

888

Rota struggled to hear the reply over the wind.

"Go ahead, Windrunner." She thought she recognized Gwydion's voice over the link.

"We've established a perimeter at Point Aleph on the outer edge of the anomaly zone. So far our scanners haven't picked up anything, so I'm prepping a patrol to move in towards the center. Hopefully we'll get a reading soon, and I'll have real news. Windrunner out."

_The energy pulse had appeared and vanished in an instant. It was an anomaly for a world without significance to register a pulse large enough to be noted by Yggdrasil. One of the councilors, Celestin, had asked 1CD to take a look. In the interest of currying political favor, they had agreed._

The valkyrie beckoned to two of her subordinates. "Shen, Helvan, grab the scanners! We're going to head in further to see if we can get a reading." The double-As shouldered the equipment wordlessly and fell in. The other three member of the probe would remain on guard duty.

888

The goddess Belldandy set her quill to the side to review her latest paragraph. Sitting back in her chair, she lifted her manuscript off the writing table to bring it closer to her eyes.

"_If gods and goddesses are truly celestial and divine beings, desiring goodwill towards the entirety of Creation, then the division between economics and true Altruism is thin indeed. By performing altruistic deeds, divine beings act to satisfy their own internal desires—their very nature, to put it bluntly. The give-and-take relationship, the basis of an economic system, is clearly apparent in such actions as those taken by Heaven's relief agencies. This is made possible by the aloof nature of wishes in correspondence to the 'granters.' In the majority of cases, the granter is impassive, uninfluenced by the wish or its outcome. Each side simply reaps its reward. Only when the granter is directly influenced by the wish is altruism clearly distinct from economics, because the granter must consider a third factor. In this situation, Mercy is an essential trait…_

She had put her heart into this book for the past month, hoping that it would help her secure a permanent position with the Goddess Relief Office. Her writing had been well-received so far, and this latest work was her best yet.

Hearing the door open behind her, the Norn turned around in her chair. She half expected to see her mentor, Celestin, coming to check up on her writing. Instead, she was greeted with the sight of a young woman, bronze-skinned and silver-haired.

Belldandy smiled happily. "Neesan!" Setting down her writing, she rose from her chair and embraced her sister. "I heard you'd been promoted to one of the system administrator slots for Yggdrasil! I'm so happy for you!"

Urd smiled as well, but more reservedly. "I was surprised as well," she admitted. "When I decided not to pursue my first-class license, I thought it was all over… But I guess they still need someone who isn't a bootlicker to bring competency to the administration."

"Urd! That's a rather mean thing to say about the Yggdrasil workers…"

Urd smiled. Belldandy was just so…willing to only see the good in people. However, the comment _had_ been a jest… "I was just joking, sis! I'm sure there are plenty of wonderful goddesses maintaining the system."

Free of Belldandy's embrace, Urd walked over to where her sister's paper was lying, the ink still slightly damp. "This is your latest one, right?"

"That's right. I'm calling it _Mercy in the New Age_."

Urd read through a couple paragraphs. "This is great writing, Belldandy. You've put a lot of thought and effort into this"

Her sister's fair complexion reddened in a blush. "Thank you, I'm glad you like it!"

Urd nodded as she continued reading. "This is pretty heady stuff. You have to dive in pretty deep to understand these concepts, but I guess that's a part of the reason why you're writing this."

Belldandy nodded. "_Hai_. It's very important to me. Selflessness is something that even the divine need to strive for, and work to have. Much as we'd like to believe otherwise, we're not perfect…"

Urd nodded at the simple truth of that. Despite being a goddess, she would never be fully accepted by all of Heaven due to her mixed parentage. She felt a wave of bitterness wash across her mind. _Who is more 'imperfect', my mixed self or those who would judge me by that?_

888

"I must confess, I am curious as to why an operation such as this one would garner your attention, my lord." Gwydion tried to read the hidden thoughts behind the hard eyes of the councilor. "Small-scale probes are rarely of any interest to the council."

"I was the one who requested that the gatekeepers investigate the anomaly. It piqued my interest, you might say." The god didn't bother turning to face his fellow.

Gwydion smiled. "Have you lost interest in your other realm of choice? Perhaps looking for a new one to sponsor?"

Celestin shook his head. "I'm not quite ready to give up on Earth quite yet. The people there are in need of our help—more so with each passing day. They are violent creatures, bent on 'learning the hard way' in everything they do. I pity them deeply, and yet our only contribution to their happiness as a race is through the 'wishes' our relief offices grant.

The younger god digested that. Celestin, distant as he was now, had been known on more than one occasion to have spoken of Earth with a fierce passion at council, and had even been reprimanded for speaking out of turn. "Then why did you want to investigate this realm?"

Now the god turned to face him. "M11397X4 is a deserted realm. As far as heaven was concerned, there was nothing there worth noting. For such an anomaly to occur, something must have caused it. If the means to create the anomaly were present in the realm itself, then it would have been noted by the survey. This leads me to three possible conclusions."

"The first and most simple is that the survey team sent to evaluate the realm missed something." The god pursed his lips in thought. "I find this to be unlikely, but it's the easiest explanation."

Gwydion caught on quickly, his thoughts darkening. "The other option would be that something, or _someone_, from outside the realm caused the anomaly. We had no activity there…"

"…and there's only one other power in Creation that has mastered the trans-dimensional jump." Celestin finished for him.

Gwydion's eyes widened. He reached for the comms board, but quick as lightning Celestin snapped his hand out and grabbed his arm, preventing him from activating the communicator. From beside him, Lind started to move…

"Stop." Celestin's command carried a ringing force. Lind froze. The tension in the air was almost palpable. The blond goddess at the board looked fearfully at her superior.

Gwydion's face was set in a mask of anger. He stared into those hard eyes for a long moment. Finally, he pulled his hand back.

"One minute, Celestin." the officer bit out. "You have exactly one minute to tell me why I shouldn't call back the patrol immediately!"

Celestin released his grip on the man's hand. "There's a third option, you see. It's called 'birth'."

"What?"

"M11397X4 is a lifeless realm. It has little shape, little definition. Little _purpose_."

Gwydion suddenly felt as if the room had chilled. There was something in the way the god had just spoken that had made him patently uncomfortable, even more so than the threat of demonic activity near his team.

"What if it was given a purpose? What if the anomaly we detected was the beginning of the birth of a new world, unknown to all of us?" Celestin closed his eyes as if experiencing a vision. "The Almighty could have created this new world, untouched by all that has transpired so far. A brave new world. This anomaly could be nothing more than the birth cries of this new world."

Gwydion shook his head. "Even so, why would you want the probe to stay on station? If this is indeed the will of the Almighty, it is not our place to interfere with his designs."

"Do you really believe that, Gwydion?" Celestin opened his eyes slowly. "I don't think you do." The god smiled craftily. "If that was the case, the Division would never sortie outside of Heaven. These costly wars with demons would never be fought. No, you know that with our hallmark of divinity, we have the authority to influence the world over which the Almighty holds dominion. Not only the authority, but the responsibility to do so."

"We influence the world to _aid_ it. To _further_ the Almighty's plans! Not to interfere with them!"

"And what if we could improve on that design?" Celestin asked. "You've seen the result of our work so far—heaven is under constant threat from the demons and we've nearly abandoned those realms that need us most. Tell me," he asked, "have you ever been to Earth, Gwydion?"

"No."

"Then you don't realize the suffering they experience there. Death, destruction, sorrow, fear—they abound like no other place beyond Hell itself. No," Celestin finished, "sometimes we cannot leave the fate of worlds to the Almighty alone."

Gwydion stared at him for a full ten seconds. "I'm recalling my team. Now." He nodded to the blond-haired goddess. "Send the recall immediately."

Celestin only smiled. "It would be wise for you to consider what I've said. In all, I consider it more likely that Hild has sent her people to M11397X4. Fine. You can drive them out, and then negotiate territory as part of the treaty. But eventually, the time will come when we will need to act for the greater good."

The communications officer flipped as switch. "Windrunner, this is Command, abort abort abort. Your signal is Omega. Acknowledge." Silence. "Windrunner Actual, this is Command, over."

Gwydion didn't hesitate. "Councilor, I'm placing this facility on a level two alert. I'm afraid that nonessential personnel cannot remain in the TOC." The underlying threat in his tone was unmistakable.

The god nodded. "You must do what you feel is right, of course." He turned and made for the door as the first alarms started sounding in the TOC. "Send me a copy of the after-action report when you get things sorted out."

Gwydion would have thrown a glare at his back, but the young officer stopped himself. _He's not worth it_. _Right now you need to make sure your team is okay._ Instead, he bent over the comms display. "What's the report on our communications, Sergeant?"

"Long-range communications down for voice traffic, but I'm still picking up their transponder signals."

"Very well. Keep trying to raise them. And try and figure out why we've lost communications." Gwydion ran over his options. "Get a tactical display running!" he shouted to the TOC staff. "I want to see a map of their positions plotted, and vector data to figure out what's going on. Air Ops?"

"Sir!" A god further down the line called.

"Do you have anything available that can transfer to realm M11397X4? I want eyes on Point Aleph."

"Working on it right now, sir!" The avenging angel's fingers danced across his keyboard. "We're limited due to the few hardline options for transfer, but I can have two birds on station in fifteen minutes!"

"Do it!"

The operations center quickly evolved into a scene of organized chaos. Watchstanders worked feverishly at their monitors as various valkyries picked up communicators or called to other stations: "Showtime Flight, this is Starbase, launch the alert five-", "Activate secondary tracking system!", "That's already activated-", "Picking up evidence of a jamming field-"

Lind just tried to take it in. Gwydion had rushed over to the plot center to see the tactical display, but she had stayed rooted next to the communications panel, almost fearful that if she moved she would disrupt the collective concentration of the operations center. Gwydion had hoped to show her a little of how the TOC was run. Now she was an island in a storm of activity.

888

Rota crouched behind one of the piles of rubble in the unnamed realm, desperately trying to work her communicator. "Command, this is Windrunner Actual, over!"

Next to her, Shen popped up and fired over the mound before ducking back down. "We can't stay here!" the avenging angel cried. Helvan was thirty yards away, his body sublimating into a wisp of smoke. Already the demons were moving in, flanking them.

"Command, this is Windrunner! I am not receiving but I say again, under attack by three-zero-plus hostiles, need immediate air support, over!" But there was no response, and only five minutes into this running firefight and she was at the brink of despair. Demonic blasts zipped over their heads as they lay flat behind the mound.

Her communicator crackled, but it was the other members of her team. "Rota, we've reached an outcropping close to Point Aleph. We'll pop smoke to mark our position. Then just give the word and we'll cover your withdrawal!"

Rota shook her head. "There's no way we could make it back to you. Withdraw back to the hardline; we'll cover your escape!"

"We're not leaving without you!" The Gatekeepers were tight-knit bunch, but Rota didn't want to see any more of her people dead even as they didn't want to leave her.

"That was an order, Sergeant! We'll be right behind you—wait!" Overhead two streaks of light crossed from over the realm's horizon.

Once again, her comm crackled. "Windrunner this is Showtime inbound. Mark your position, and we can give you one, maybe two passes."

Rota could have almost cried for joy. "Showtime, we're right here! Popping smoke!" She reached for her belt and yanked off a marking canister, activating it. Purple smoke rose from her position. A similar plume marked the rest of the team 200 meters behind her.

"Into attack," her communicator relayed. "Keep your heads down." Rota and Shen flattened themselves as the world literally blew up around them.

_BLAM-BLAM-BLAM-BLAM_. The ground shook as dust and chunks of rock were blown into the air. Their ears were assaulted by the crash of the heavy weapons around their position, and splinters of superheated rock stung their bodies. Rota pressed her body into the ground, willing herself to flatten as she rode out the storm.

Abruptly, it was over. The world turned strangely silent. Rota picked her head up, realizing her ears were ringing slightly. She shook her head as if to clear it. Shen looked to her. "What do we do now?"

Rota looked around at the air full of dust and dirt. "The smoke will give us cover! This might be our only chance. We'll break cover and dash for the hardline. Keep your head down! Ready?" The double-A nodded.

"Go!" With a flash Rota was off, Shen right behind her. Running across the uneven terrain, she struggled to pick out her footing through the smoke. The wind had picked up again and was moving the dust like a sandstorm. Staggering against the wind, she made for the direction of the hardline at Point Aleph.

She broke through the dust cloud to see the base camp only a hundred meters away. Realizing it was now or never, she dashed forward as fast as her training-honed body would drive her. Up ahead, the rest of the team was assuming defensive positions at the hardline.

From behind her, she heard Shen stumble and fall. Turning, she saw the avenging angel on his knees, clutching a blackened spot on his chest. "Go!" he hissed. "Go!"

Wordlessly, she turned back and ran as she had never before. As she ran up to the rock outcropping that marked Aleph, the defenders opened up with covering fire all around her. Making to safety, she turned around. "Shen!"

Galvin pushed her down as a blast sizzled where her head had been. "He's gone, Rota!"

She pushed off the flood of grief threatening to overwhelm her. She had a job to do. Hitting a control on her communicator, she opened the hardline, causing a column of blue light to rise up from the ground. Then they were diving through it to escape to Heaven, but not before she felt the first drop of steaming water slide down her cheek.

888

Gwydion stared at the display in horror. Two of the IFF beacons had gone silent after reporting catastrophic damage to their wearers. In other words, he had two dead in a botched operation, and one that he now suspected should never have been launched in the first place.

_Why?_ he asked himself. _Seal, I can understand. Why would they kill? Have the demons done away with Doublet? What the hell is going on here?!_


	2. Promises and Wishes

Thank you for the feedback so far. This is the redone version of Chapter 2, edited the way it should have been were I not in a complete rush to get it out earlier. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Oh My Goddess! does not belong to me.

* * *

Belldandy watched her sister's expression darken as Urd finished her conversation on the phone. She had been drying dishes, watching her sister finish up some of her system operator's paperwork, when the phone had rung. Urd had been annoyed at the call at first, and then her expression had turned to one of shock. Now, it had settled into a mix of anger and sorrow.

"Yes, of course I can come in," Urd answered the unknown speaker. "No, I wouldn't know why that would happen. Yes, I'll be there soonest." She cradled the handset.

"Neesan," asked Belldandy uncertainly, "what was that about? You look like something terrible has happened!"

Urd looked towards the floor. "Some valkyries got nailed during a compromised reconnaissance mission. Combat Division called up the Network Center because apparently there was some kind of malfunction with Yggdrasil." The elder norm shook her head. "They aren't really telling me about it—I got the impression it's real hush-hush."

"Oh, no!" cried Belldandy. "Valkyries being sealed? That _is_ terrible! Has the Almighty started trying to negotiate their release?" Her concern was not unfounded. A sealed god or demon might remain that way for up to five hundred years. Heaven and Hell had stipulated in their treaty after the Great War that both sides could make exchanges for sealed prisoners, and negotiations were common, but all too many times they were simply futile. She wanted to hold some comfort that the valkyries would be released eventually, but her sister looked utterly dejected.

"Neesan?" Belldandy asked quietly. "Have the negotiations failed so quickly?"

Urd brought her head up, looking her sister in the eyes. "You don't understand, Belldandy," she said bitterly. "The valkyries weren't sealed…they're dead."

She was in the next room reaching for the television before she heard the sound of china shattering on the floor.

888

She was aware of bright lights above her, and could hear almost-distinguishable whispers in the back of her mind. Were they calling her name? It all seemed so distant…

Rota felt the sensation of returning to the surface after a deep dive into the ocean. With an effort, the last fogginess burned out of her mind, the light dimmed, and the indistinct shapes above her resolved themselves.

"-ear me?" The god was staring down at her with an expression of intense concern. "Rota? Can you hear me?"

The valkyrie mouthed an affirmative. Her mind was trying futilely to place her in… where was she, anyway? She tried to turn her head to see and instantly regretted it. The pain was enough to nearly put her under again.

She took a couple of deep breaths as world stopped spinning again. "Where…where am I?" The words emerged as a hoarse whisper she couldn't imagine her body making.

"You're at the Division hospital," the face above her said. "We're going to see if we can transfer you to Main, but you've given us a few scares so far, so we're taking this nice and easy."

"I was… hurt?" The last few moments of the battle were jumbled and confused. She had been running with Shen, and then, the hardline…but she honestly couldn't remember what had happened.

The healer smiled. "You're lucky to be alive, lieutenant. You took a hit right as you went through the medium. It's been touch and go, but we've managed to stabilize your injuries. The full recovery will take time, but I'm confident you'll do fine."

"My team…" she croaked, already starting to fall back asleep.

The healer hesitated slightly. "They're fine," he said. "Just sleep." As her eyes closed, he looked up at the two officers standing next to the bunk. "She's tired," he said. "She won't remember anything useful for you now, and she needs to sleep to recover. Give it a day and she'll be stable enough to help you."

Gwydion nodded. "We understand. It's vitally important that we speak to her the next time she becomes lucid. She has information that we need as soon as possible."

"I'll let you know when she comes around," the healer promised.

"What about the other one—Galvin?" the captain asked.

The healer shook his head. "He's still out. To be honest, I don't know how he's going to do. He took a large part of the blast that hit Lieutenant Rota, and _she's_ just coming around now. He might never be the same."

"You've contacted the families of the other two?" the female Colonel next to Gwydion asked.

"No, I held off as you requested, ma'am," the healer replied. He shook his head again. "I'm sorry. That last blast right at the hardline was extremely unfortunate. There was just too much damage; we couldn't do anything." He choked up slightly. "We're not supposed to get emotional here, but, well, I thought with the peace I'd never have to see this happen to another young valkyrie…" He looked up. "I'll take good care your troops, Colonel, Captain."

"I promise."

888

Shen was in a world of pain. He had no idea something could hurt this much. He had resolved not to look down at the blackened crater in his chest for fear that it would make him sick. He would have been sure he was dying…if he hadn't been in Hell already.

They had picked up his body when the dust cleared. The last hit had gone right through him, taking out his locator transponder at the same time. He had wanted to do something to resist, but his body was too weak, and he couldn't concentrate through the agony to call forth Piercing Gaze. So when the Hellriders had picked him up, he hadn't been able to give even a token show of resistance. They had bound him before hauling his body back to their own transport, placing a sensory damper over his head.

He had known, intellectually, where they were taking him, or at least had a pretty good guess. It did nothing to prepare him for the actual experience.

Fear, pain, despair and bitterness pervaded the air like a foul stench. Even with the sensory damper over his head, he had felt it creep into his body, assaulting his consciousness with waves of nausea. With it off, the effect was multiplied tenfold.

The young avenging angel tried to shake off the pain and nausea, tried to build up his resolve and courage. It was a nearly impossible task. The demons had been quick to tell him they were taking him to _her_. Given the context of _her_, there was little doubt of who she was. Now they were dragging him up the corridor to her throne. Abruptly, he was dropped none-too-gently onto the stone floor.

Determined not to show weakness, he lifted his head up defiantly—and was shocked by the sight. The Daimakaicho, leader of Hell, was walking quickly towards him, an expression of concern on her venomously beautiful face. "My dear avenging angel!" she cried worriedly. "I must apologize! Are you hurt badly?"

He was taken aback for a second, but grimaced as he narrowed his eyes. "Shen. Corporal of Gatekeepers, Heaven, Four-Six-Five-Oh-"

She cut him off with a wave of her hand. "That's all fine," she said sweetly as she knelt next to him, and he nearly shuddered to think that her voice could sound that way and yet contain such evil. "You see, I already know a great deal about you, but I need to know certain other things right now. Like why you were sent into that realm." She caressed a hand a across his face. "Why your mission was not officially approved by Heaven's council."

"Shen. Corporal of Gatekeep-" He cried out in agony as her hand moved down to his injury.

Hild stood, still smiling, but her tone was no longer sweet. "Defiance, good. I like defiance. You'll be a fun one, I can tell."

He spoke through clenched teeth. "You won't break me."

"Oh, but I will." Hild grinned evilly. "My dear avenging angel, you're in Hell. Literally and otherwise. You aren't the first, and certainly won't be the last to break, but break you I shall." She opened her arms to indicate her surroundings. "We excel at that here."

"Heaven will want me back." Shen struggled to hold onto hope. "You can't keep me from them."

"`Heaven thinks you're dead." Hild let that sink in. "A faulty report from your transponder, I'm afraid. No one will be coming for you. No one knows or cares."

Shen laughed bitterly, hanging on to bravado if nothing else. "You'd better hurry, then. This wound'll still have me dead in a couple of days, so you're on a true _dead_line."

"No," Hild smiled, "we're going to take good care of you." She waved her hand and a Vector Daemon, Hell's response to healers, appeared to her left. Shen was hauled to his feet by the two Hellriders. Hild watched them drag him away.

"I promise."

888

Frigga watched concernedly as Belldandy bumped into another goddess in the office and apologized. She shook her head. Her daughter and provisional employee had seemed distracted the entire day, making mistakes with paperwork and causing minor accidents around the office space.

The Goddess Relief office was as busy as ever, with phones ringing not quite off the hook, but pretty close to it. Frigga smiled. Business was definitely good. The market had gone steadily up over the past week, with faith in Heaven increasing across the board for a variety of realms. She should be happy.

But seeing her daughter with such a troubled look on her face left that feeling somewhat hollow. When she'd asked Belldandy about it earlier, the goddess had shrugged it off, but Frigga knew her daughters better than anyone save the Almighty. The fact that Belldandy was showing this much distraction meant she had to be deeply troubled.

Frigga pondered that. Belldandy was up for another provisional wish today. Her call was up in…well, just about ten minutes, but Frigga began to wonder if she should take it. _No_, she thought, _Belldandy knows what we do here is incredibly important. She needs the experience of acting selflessly even when in the grip of strong emotion._ She nodded. _I'll let her take the call_.

888

His name was Hotarunosuke Morisato, and he was a young man whose heart was torn apart. Sitting down in the room he shared with his brother at his family's home, he held a letter in each hand and cried softly. He pulled the tear-stained paper in his left hand closer, reading it again.

It was written in ink, the calligraphy slightly rushed as if the writer had been in a hurry: _Morisato-san, I'm writing to say that Chieko's condition is worsening quickly. The doctor says he can't be sure, but he thinks that it is a form of aggressive cancer. I hate to write this, but she might not make it through this next week._

_She talks about you every day, and asks if you'll be coming to fulfill some sort of promise she said you made to her. She insisted we write to you. If you can, please come up and visit. I know it would mean the world to her. At this point, we can only hope for a miracle…and I can only say, I hope you're it._

The one in his right hand had been written on some kind of typewriter. It was impersonal—a form letter that could be sent out by the thousands. Truth be told, he really wasn't too surprised he had received it. He was of age, and the Empire was rapidly moving towards conflict and would need new blood. The rumors said Manchuria, but it was too soon to tell. The letter was dated December 15, 1930, and was his draft notice. He was to report for service in the Imperial Japanese Army by December 17th.

Today was the 16th. There was no way he could make it to the Honda Lodge in the time he had left. To report for service would be to condemn his...friend to a death alone. And he would end up in the Army, and he would fight, and he would get killed.

_What do I do? _he asked himself in anger and frustration. _I promised Chieko, and I meant it, too! Why did things have to be this way? If I leave now, I'll never see her again. If I don't report for service, I'll be a coward and a dishonorable traitor—a criminal!_

He couldn't call up the lodge where Chieko was, either. Telephone service didn't extend that far out yet. He could write a letter, but what if arrived too late?

_No! I'm not going to think that way. Chieko will be oaky, and we'll figure out some way of making this work._ He wished with all his heart that the draft notice would go away, or that Chieko would get better. He missed her, had even left his motorcycle with her as a token of how special she was to him. When that motorcycle was Brough Superior, it was no idle gesture. Now it was all for naught. He looked over at the framed picture he had of the two of them at the lodge. He was on his bike, and she was standing next to him with a parasol. The photograph was from August. He picked it up, smiled, and then set it back down on his table.

The few summer days he had spent there had been amazing. He'd always been the shy one growing up, unable to get a girlfriend even though his friends had assured him he was quite handsome. When his uncle, a rich man who had taken a liking to him, had given him the Brough on his eighteenth birthday, his friends had proclaimed him a chick magnet. But... there was always a lingering hesitation on his part to get into a relationship.

Chieko had disarmed him, punched right through his defenses before he'd realized they were broken. She'd taken an instant liking to him when he arrived for the summer, and they had opened their hearts to one another. He'd enjoyed her cooking and even taught her a few tricks he'd picked up along the way. The Brough had broken down while he was out there, and when, after his stay was up, he hadn't been able to fix it, he had left it behind as a token of his gratitude and as part of the promise they'd made.

The promise- so innocent and simple, but with so much force behind it. To break it would be unthinkable.

He decided he would have to try to reason with the Army. Though they might be preparing for war, the Empire was not at war _yet_. he wans't being sent overseas in two weeks to serve on some distant island. Surely they could understand his situation. Picking up the phone, he dialed the number on the draft letter.

To his surprise, a woman answered the phone. "Hello," she said. "You have reached the Goddess Help Line. I'll be coming down to visit for an in-person consultation."

Hotarunosuke frowned. _Help Line?_ What was this? "Excuse me," he started, but the line went dead. Shrugging, he started to dial again when the corner of his eye caught a flash of light.

He turned around to see a strangely dressed Caucasian woman somehow climbing out of a mirror on the wall. "Kami-sama," he breathed. "Who are you?"

The woman was unlike anyone he had ever seen before. Her clothes were like something from the ancient courts at Kyoto, or something out of a fairy tale. It was literally hard to take in, he was so shocked. Her face was kind, with a disarming appearance, but he felt somehow that she was troubled or uneasy.

Belldandy smiled at him, but he felt like it seemed a hollow expression. "I'm the Goddess Belldandy," she said. "I'm from the Goddess Relief Office and I'm here to grant you a wish." She really hoped she could make a difference. Today she had been so distracted. Her imagination kept throwing pictures of dead valkyries into her mind, and so she had been...disappointing at work. This could be her chance to make up for it.

Hotarunosuke smiled bitterly. "So now my mind is even playing tricks on me? Wonderful. Can you mend a ruined life?" he asked angrily.

Belldandy was hurt. She had become used to surprise and shock, but straightforward hostility was new. _What did I do wrong?_ "I—I don't know about that. I can grant you any wish you choose, but you are allowed only one wish." She tried to smile confidently. "I hope that can help you with your life. But I must say, your mind is not playing tricks with you. I really am here, am I'm a goddess."

Hotarunosuke eyed her warily. "Well, Miss Belldandy, I'm getting drafted into the army, and the woman I care about is dying, and there's nothing I can do about either one." The tears had stopped with the shock of her appearance, but they were welling up again. "I don't suppose you have a cure-all for that?"

But Belldandy wasn't listening anymore. "Dying?" she whispered. In her mind, she saw a god twisting in pain as his chest was holed by a demonic energy blast. She staggered backwards involuntarily and bumped the table behind her. A picture frame fell off the table and hit the floor, the glass shattering.

"I'm so sorry!" she said. She hadn't meant to do that, but she had just seen that image pop into her mind and assault her senses like it had before. _His emotions are a whirlwind! What have I done?_

Hotarunosuke was already diving for the picture frame, picking up the glass before holding up a photograph of a man and woman. The woman's face had been scratched by the glass fragments. He glared upwards at the goddess, having found a new target for all his frustration and anger. "You!" he bit out. "Are you _trying_ to hurt me? Is this what you want?" he cried, holding the photo aloft. He was beyond caring about trying to be polite. It was just all too much.

"N-no," gasped Belldandy. "I-I didn't mean to-"

"Why don't you just leave me alone!" the young man cried.

Belldandy was taken aback. She had beenso selfish by letting her own emotions get in the way of helping this troubled young man. The thing was, she really did want to help him. His pain radiated off him like a xenon lamp. If there was just something she could do...

She started to reach a hand out to his shoulder to comfort him, to make amends, when her forehead began to shine.

Hotarunosuke blinked. The woman had just disappeared! He realized too late the consequences of the spoken word.

"Oh my god," he moaned. "What have I done?

888

Celestin walked through the park in Heaven, his eyes scanning the trees on either side of the path. Frigga had been agitated when she'd called, saying Belldandy had come back from granting a wish and run out of the office, sobbing, without a word of explanation. She had asked him to see if he could track down her daughter for her, which spoke volumes about her worry, since he felt Frigga had never really liked him in the first place. Frigga had had no idea where Belldandy had gone, but Celestin figured he had a pretty good idea of where to look.

It was the disturbance in the harmony of the park that gave her away. He walked up to the tree that formed the source.

"Belldandy," he called. "You should come on out. I know you're here."

Out of the trunk of the tree the young goddess appeared, throwing herself into her teacher's arms. "Oh, Celestin!" she cried. "I'm a terrible goddess!"

"Take it easy," the councilor whispered as he held her. "Belldandy, what's wrong?"

In between fresh outbursts of tears, she told him. He guided her down to the ground so they were sitting against the tree. "It's all right," he whispered to his student. "It's all right."

Her grief spent, Belldandy quickly fell asleep next to her mentor. Celestin let his hand run through her hair, reveling in its smooth feeling. _Gwydion hasn't sent me his report yet. I suppose he's still trying to find out what happened, though._ He frowned. _But how did Belldandy know?_

That was irrelevant, he decided. He'd deal with the backlash of the operation later. If he played his cards right, he might even come out on the positive side, since they now knew the demons had a vested interest in M11397X4.

No, the real tragedy was Earth. He shook his head bitterly. This whole incident was just one more reminder of the tragedies of that realm. Yesterday the council had, once again, turned down his proposal to take another look at their efforts to improving the quality of life on Earth.

His ears still stung with Michael's rebuke: "Celestin, we appreciate your fervor in this matter. It is obvious you care deeply for the inhabitants of the realm known as Earth. But they have been gifted with Free Will by the Almighty, and it is not our place to interfere. Our assistance will be limited to 'supply and advise' only. Furthermore, you should remember your place. We have gone through this before. You are the junior god on the council, and we have many affairs of great importance being brought before us. The council cannot allow Earth to monopolize its time."

And now that world was moving for another great cataclysm. He could see it in his mind's eye—devastation beyond what anyone could have imagined. Tens of millions of people would be killed. Earth would discover horrifying new technology to allow them to split the atom—and use it for war. The innocent would be slaughtered by crazed madmen who despised them over their heritage, and yet they were all _human beings_! They sprung from the same source! _And Heaven was willing to let this happen!_

He had some time, he knew. Nearly a decade would pass on Earth before the worst began, but the seeds of chaos were already taking root on that beleaguered ball of dirt. He looked down at the sleeping goddess in his arms.

_She doesn't deserve to see that. It's not right. Belldandy, I will fix this place. I will fix heaven and I will fix Earth. I will act where others have stood aside. And I will not fail._


	3. The Stuff of Legends

Disclaimer: Ah! My Goddess does not belong to me.

"Than the kynge stablyssed all the knyghtes and gaff then rycheese and londys; and charged them never to do outrage nothir murder, and allwayes to fle treson, and to gyff mercy unto hym that askith mercy, upon payne of forfeiture of worship and lordship of kynge Arthure for evermore; and allwayes to do laydes, damsels, and jantilwomen and widows socur: strength hem in hir ryghtes, and never to enforce them, upon payne of dethe."

-The Pentecostal Oath, _Le Morte d'Arthur_, Sir Thomas Malory

* * *

_Swish…CRACK!_

The small boulder shattered into tiny pieces under the force of the hit. Gwydion nodded appreciatively. The day's training was going well. Lind continually demonstrated an intensity level in her training he had seldom seen from any god, which made her both a pleasure and a challenge to train: a pleasure because she was not stubborn, overconfident, or lazy, but a challenge because even _he_ sometimes felt rushed by her progression.

_Swish…CRACK!_

Her initial training had advanced so quickly he had been worried at first. Lind had come to him with a fair amount of magical experience already under her belt, but she had felt out of place in Heaven, unsure of her purpose and lacking a focus. She had thought he might be able to give that to her.

He shook his head slightly. _She always had the ability and the motivation to excel. She's the model of the kind of valkyrie we want to see. If it weren't for her…uniqueness…she would have been recruited much earlier._ It was sad, really, that she had been judged by her angel's appearance. Though the one-wing nature of her angel was seen as a sign of a deformity in her soul, Gwydion wondered if that common knowledge was but one more way to discriminate against those who were different.

_Swish…CRACK!_

He admitted that he himself had been hesitant to accept her as a student, but she had made an excellent appeal: "_If I am to become a Valkyrie, then to serve Heaven to the fullest extent I must learn from the very greatest."_ He had been flattered, and so had agreed against his initial judgment to teach her.

It was during those first few days that he'd realized the folly of Heaven. One only had to spend time around his student to realize she had no 'deformity'. On the contrary, Lind was intelligent, calm under pressure, capable of making sound judgments, respectful, and kind. He was sure her cold, emotionless appearance was the result of the treatment she'd received from her peers, and that angered him to no end. Gods like Celestin encouraged that sort of attitude, and given their positions in Heaven, it was no wonder discrimination could be so prevalent.

_In this realm of supposed 'perfection,' we are all too quick to judge the 'imperfect.'_ Lind was capable of so much. He had the highest of hopes for her, and thought he saw a lot of himself in his student, which made him very proud. _She will make an excellent officer, when the time comes—one-winged angel or not_.

Lind shattered another flying boulder with her polearm and Gwydion raised his hand to indicate a halt. "That will be enough work on focus today." He scanned the rest of the training field where various valkyries and avenging angels were engaging in mock battles or combat drill. "I want you to go run the obstacle course again, making as little use of magic as possible. Do that three times, log your scores, and then meet me back here."

"Sensei." Lind bowed and turned to leave.

"Oh, and Lind?" he called out belatedly. "Feel free to challenge any of the other course runners. Make me proud."

She flashed a rare smile. "Yes, sir!" Then she was gone, running at top speed to the obstacle course.

Gwydion smiled back. _Good luck_, he wished to the other valkyries training on the course. They were going to need it.

He sat down on one of the boulders at the focus course and placed the two documents he'd brought with him on a neighboring boulder. Picking up the first one, he scanned through the preliminary after-action report from the Windrunner probe.

It was not comforting in the least. Shen and Helvan had both been killed in the middle of the action, and Maryn and Yi had been killed right as they entered the medium. The forensics had concluded that they had probably been dead before the transfer could be made. Galvin was still out, and Rota had yet to awaken again, though she could at any time. Intelligence still hadn't determined why the demons would have had a presence in M11397X4, or why they would ignore the penalty of Doublet that resulted in a god being killed for every demon death and vice versa.

Operations across the board were normal except for that realm. There had been no overt hostility cropping up from Hell, no communiqués of defiance or protest, and not even any border skirmishes to speak of. For all intents and purposes, the Windrunner probe fiasco could have been a dream. _Except for four dead gods!_ he thought angrily.

He was upset with himself, and understandably depressed, though he'd done his best not to show it to Lind. It had been his team, after all, part of the 2nd/507th. He'd have given his life for any of them… But in the end that kind of thinking led nowhere. _The best way I can honor their sacrifice is by figuring out what happened and correcting this disaster as best as I'm able. I can and will do that._

He set the report aside. It didn't really contain any information he didn't know already. The system administrators at Yggdrasil were still trying to examine the communications breakdown that had occurred and see if they could glean any more data about M11397X4, but they hadn't been able to give him anything as of yet. It would just take time.

He sighed before picking up the second item. It wasn't an intelligence report or a Combat document. It was a book from Earth: _Le Morte D'Arthur_.

He still wasn't sure if it would be of any use. On a whim, he'd picked it up from Heaven's central library. It had amused him that Heaven would keep a copy of it, but the fact that it involved an actual celestial being, however fictionally, had put it on their watch list.

"_Have you ever been to Earth, Gwydion?"_

He hadn't, but that was not to say he knew nothing of it. Earth's people were a peculiar one. They were in the image of the Almighty, and so were closest of Creation in form to gods and goddesses. _And demons as well…_

Gwydion wondered if they were as like in temperament as they were in form. The history of humanity was both beautiful and sad, marked by laughter, fraught with tears. That they had not destroyed themselves was a testament to their race, but evil had nonetheless pervaded them. However, as he had read through the history of their existence, he'd felt there was a part of the story not being told. The Combat division had likewise held a great deal of information about Valkyrie operations on Earth, but the after-action reports lacked a certain essence to them. The facts were plain to see, but the truth about humanity was elusive.

In frustration, he had turned back to the library for information. The goddess in charge of records had laughed.

"Captain, it's no secret where you can learn the best and worst of humanity." She had smiled. "It's what comes from their mind—their fictional writing. They are perceptive in ways that even we here in Heaven we don't fully understand." She had held up a book. "For example, there's this man Lewis who's writing about letters between demons. It's all out of his head, and it won't be finished for awhile, but when the Daimakaicho reads it…" She had smiled slyly. "She won't be happy."

"Really," he had said. "What would you recommend if I wanted to try to understand how they think as a whole, their failings and their triumphs?"

"Where to begin?" She had smiled and opened her arms. "But I suppose as an Avenging Angel, you'd be able to relate to them better if I gave you one of their treatises on war and dominion."

"War and dominion?" he had echoed uncertainly, not quite sure if he'd liked her underlying assumption.

"Yes, I think you'll like it. I'll forward it to Combat."

True to her word, she had sent it, and he'd picked it up off his desk earlier. Flipping through the pages, he reached the point where he'd left off and started reading. This book had indeed given him some insight into the people of Earth. Justice, equality, mercy… they were all addressed and held up as standards. But too often they were contrasted by failure, corruption, and evil. They struggled with the ethics of conflict, and the purpose of government

On the surface, humanity could be viewed as alien. They knew cruelty and hate side-by-side with love and honor. But his mind kept flashing back to the TOC, to the words Celestin had taken such store in:

"_With our hallmark of divinity, we have the authority to influence the world over which the Almighty holds dominion. Not only the authority, but the responsibility to do so."_

If that wasn't might as a tool of rule, then what was? Was Celestin right? Surely not. But why wasn't he right?

Gwydion was troubled that he couldn't come up with a satisfactory answer.

888

Urd sighed in annoyance. She was good with computer systems, she really was. Although she loved her sister to a fault, sometimes it seemed that people sometimes glossed over her abilities in their praise of Belldandy. When she'd won the SYSOP slot for Yggdrasil, it had been a validation of her worth. She was the best at _something_…

…Not that that was helping her much right now.

One of the other administrators, Ere, looked over at her. "I don't understand it. The jamming is easy to explain—it has _demon_ just plastered all over it. We can come up with a counterprogram based on the execution command and send it to Combat. But this subsidiary coding, it's totally foreign."

Urd studied the lines of code Ere had pulled up. "What is this section responsible for?"

"It's part of the interface between Yggdrasil, M11397X4, and the demons' Nidhogg system as well."

"Interface?" Urd was puzzled. "Doesn't it run off the Yggdrasil system? We _do_ maintain reality here, you know."

"Yes, but this realm is _different_ somehow. There's an outer layer of coding in the realm that has been optimized to work with both systems, and yet, it doesn't have a connection to either. It's almost like a separate reality, but designed to work like it's part of this one except in certain ways."

"Like Doublet?" It was still confusing as hell, but she thought she was getting the gist of it.

"Yes, Doublet could be one of them." The goddess pulled up a window. "Take a look."

Urd read the screen.

_Error: Unable to execute program 'equtiy.' Unable to do operation on function doublet(x,y) due to nil value. Variables x,y have not been declared local._

"They haven't been declared local?" Urd frowned. "And theoretically, if they were declared local in a general Yggdrasil protocol, they should be able to compute in any form of reality governed by our system."

"Yes. Also, since the treaty binds both Heaven and Niflheim, the program should be able to execute if M11397X4 were controlled by Nidhogg."

Urd considered that. "This is too strange. A parallel universe? Or some kind of aberration?" She shook her head. "It's still designed to interface with Yggdrasil, so it's not independent of our system. It's just differentiated in that we can't really manipulate reality from outside it. It's kind of a neutral zone of reality."

Ere looked at her uncomfortably. "Would such a thing exist?"

Urd allowed herself a tight smile. "I think we've proven it does. For now, I want you to reassign M11397X4 as an A-Category realm with specific designator. I'll go talk to Michael or someone important about this."

Ere looked at her incredulously. "You're just going to walk in and talk to _Michael?! _The archangel?"

Urd let her smile blossom into a wolfish grin as she planted her hands on her hips. "Why not? I am _Urd_, after all. The one and only."

Ere shook her head before turning back to her work. She redesignated M11397X4 as an A-Category realm, showing that it now had high significance to Heaven. The computer assigned it the next sequential number in the series, Realm Five-One-Two.

888

Gwydion fell into step with Commander Hensara as they walked through Terminal Dogma towards the briefing room. He'd received word that a large part of the Windrunner situation would be explained, and so was feeling necessarily anxious. He wasn't sure what more could have developed over the last day—Rota and Galvin were still under, and they'd been the best possible sources of information

Commander Hensara had met him outside of Terminal Dogma. She hadn't said much, but he'd read past the text stream to the data.

_We're sending in another team._

The fact that he was being summoned specifically to the meeting made it likely that he was not simply here to retell his reports to the council. He had been in overall command of the probe, and so had received all the intelligence about M11397X4 up to that time. Now he was going to receive the rest of the picture. He would be the best informed on-scene commander available.

The fact was, though, he was uneasy about going into the realm. The last team had been annihilated before they had known what had hit them. The enemy had obviously been willing to kill instead of seal, and he wasn't sure _why_ they were going back. He hoped that all of that would be made clear during the briefing. He wasn't ready to lose more of his friends.

The two valkyries entered into the briefing room and bowed. Michael waved them up from his spot at the table. "Commander, Captain, it's a pleasure to have you with us. We've recently obtained some vital new information about realm M11397X4." He gestured to the platinum-haired goddess at the end of room. "Lady Urd is one of the system administrators for Yggdrasil, and has been researching some of the _oddities_ of the realm.

Urd tapped a few commands into the terminal on the wall and an image of a program file appeared on the wall. "The long and short of things is, Realm Five-One-Two is form of reality that we can't manipulate at will."

Gwydion looked at her, slightly confused. "I'm sorry. Realm Five-One-Two is…?"

"It's the new designation for M11397X4," Urd explained. "It has been recategorized to A status."

The captain suppressed his impulse to whistle. Among literally thousands of realms, Category-A realms were marked as vitally important to the operation of Heaven. Earning a place on the list was difficult at best.

Hensara cleared her throat. "Excuse me, but could you explain what you mean by not being able to manipulate reality at will?"

Urd nodded. "It's like this. Yggdrasil is the system Heaven uses to maintain reality. It's a vastly powerful network, and using it we can directly influence the realms it controls. For example, the reason our assistance agencies can grant wishes is that Yggdrasil accepts and processes those requests. It is also the reason we can do things like remove ourselves from the visible spectrum or be able to float."

"Realm Five-One-Two doesn't work quite that way. It's like a separate zone of existence. It has an interface that allows Yggdrasil to access it and to an extent manipulate some variables. That's why we can link to it using hardlines and such. However, many of our advanced programs, such as Doublet, will not run correctly. That's also the reason why our scans of Five-One-Two were flawed. There's an issue with definition of variables in the programming."

"So, if what I'm getting out of this is correct" Hensara began, "Doublet is not functioning correctly. That would mean…"

"You can kill a god or a demon in Five-One-Two," Urd finished, "and there would be no penalty through Doublet."

There was silence around the table. Finally, a new voice spoke up.

"Would there be any way to correct this problem? To allow Yggdrasil to access Five-One-Two?" The voice was suave and sophisticated. Gwydion turned his head; he knew that voice. Celestin.

Urd paused, uncertain. "It could be possible. You would have to use a local system within Five-One-Two, program it to the realm and then create a new interface. Right now, we don't really have the ability to do that." She shrugged. "If it's any consolation, Hell is affected in a similar manner. They won't be able to run many of their beneficial programs off of Nidhogg either."

Michael took it all in. "To sum up, if we meet demons in Five-One-Two, we will be on equal footing without the benefit of Doublet as a deterrent. Some of our other beneficial programs will be unable to run, but neither will the demons' programs. Also, we'll be unable to conduct proper reconnaissance of the realm using current remote sensing techniques."

"Round Table," Gwydion muttered. It seemed absurd for his mind to be going back to that Earth story, but hearing Celestin's voice had jogged his memory. '_Equality' all around. It's like some perverted version of the Table Round._

Michael's mouth quirked upwards in the slightest of smiles. "Round table? Something you wished to add, Gwydion?"

The avenging angel shook his head. "No, my lord. It was a reference to an Earth legend. We're on equal footing with the demons for the first time since the Great War and I don't particularly care for it."

Michael sighed. "Neither do I. The Almighty will not be pleased…If He doesn't know about it already," the archangel finished dryly. "And I do know about that 'legend'. Believe me, Morgan le Fay made plenty of trouble with that little stunt of hers. We're just lucky humanity has dismissed us as myth. Better that they believe by faith than ignore through certainty."

Gwydion nodded. He could feel Celestin's eyes boring into him. The Councilor was no fool. Earth was his specialty, so he would surely know the tale. If he deduced that Gwydion was checking into him… Well, he had enough to worry about right now.

Michael cleared his throat. "I hope all this information has been enlightening. As it is, I will be briefing the Almighty on the situation as soon as we finish here." He motioned with his hand and a secretary began passing out document folders. "In the meantime, however, you all know where we stand. Until the treaty with Hell has been revised, anyone entering Five-One-Two will need to worry about attack. However, the Council has requested that Combat deploy another team to secure a staging point in this 'Roundtable', as the captain puts it. This will be executed to demonstrate that our Valkyries are still an effective fighting force capable of power projection." He gestured to the folders. "Inside those you will see the preliminary plans for Operation _LOW BOUNCE_." He let his gaze run across all the faces in the room. "We've been dealt a serious blow. When it comes to negotiating the treaty, we must be in a position of strength. We cannot afford to show weakness."

He stabbed his finger down onto the table. "This is where we prove our worth."

888

Celestin watched as the others exited, his eyes lingering on Gwydion. He'd said too much in the TOC during Windrunner. Gwydion wasn't dumb. He knew that Celestin's little speech had been borderline treasonous. Instead of trying to denounce him, though, he was doing his best to research Earth and learn more about its people.

_That_ was something of great interest. Celestin frowned. Gwydion had been plenty hostile to him in the operations center, but since then he'd not felt any heat from the Council or even the Grigori, Heaven's secretive security/counterintelligence force. The officer hadn't reported him to anyone. Could he be turned? It was possible…

His eyes caught a flash of bright color, jolting him out of his thoughts. "Urd!" he called.

Urd turned at the voice of her sister's mentor. Mentally she sighed. Celestin may have been powerful and wise, but she found herself nursing a dislike of the older god. There was just something wrong about him, something she couldn't put her finger on.

"What do you want?" she asked, none too happily.

He smiled. "Is it really that much of burden to speak to me? You ought to take lessons in politeness from your sister. She's becoming the model goddess."

Urd glared daggers. "Don't play your little games with me. You have something to say? Say it."

Celestin widened his eyes innocently. "I simply wanted to congratulate you on your brief. You presented your information well."

"And?"

Celestin nodded. "I was curious if you happened to know the current time ratio between Heaven and Realm Four-Zero-Three."

"All right, give me a second." Urd withdrew a handheld communicator from a pocket and pushed a series of button. She studied the display for a second, then looked up. "According to current prediction, time differential is approximately four days Heaven Standard Time to an Earth calendar month. Will that be sufficient?"

Yes, that's all I needed to know." Celestin bowed slightly in thanks. "Tell Belldandy that I will be dropping by the house later on today to go over her writing."

"Sure." With a wave of her hand, Urd turned and walked away. That guy was a creep. Except that he was reserved instead of obnoxious, he was almost like Troub—_him_. He had his own agenda at heart. Urd's thoughts turned bitter as she willed away her memories of that good-for-nothing plum—_him_. Every time he started to appear before her eyes, her mind slammed shut like an iron trap. He had just left, like that! Had left her alone…

She snarled involuntarily into the air, ignoring the stares of the startled passers-by, wishing away the tears welling up in her eyes…

888

Rota opened her eyes slowly. She felt, well, _different_. The pain was gone, but she could feel her body's weakness and wondered if she could even sit up.

Turning her head, she glanced around. She was still in a hospital, but this one was different. There was more activity, and the lights were different. Willing her mind to break through the shadowy barriers, she pushed into her past.

This time, though, her brain was able to sort through the jumbled pieces left over from the battle and the hurried withdrawal. She remembered seeing Shen get hit, and running back, and then jumping for the hardline.

She gasped. She remembered the titanic boom as she had been enveloped by the blue light, and she remembered the shock, the burning sensation, the incredible pain. She remembered, and she knew what it meant.

She began panicking, shaking, trying to rise and move her body before realizing it was restrained. When her efforts brought no progress, she began to turn her head wildly, trying to catch a glimpse of her other team members in the ward around her.

"Galvin! Where are you? Maryn! Yi!" She cried out, unable to suppress the rush of emotion that was flooding for her. "Shen! Helvan! _Where are you!?"_

Her cry went unanswered. She was silent for a moment before her body started to shudder with sobs. "Oh, God," she cried. "Oh, God…"

The healer standing outside her door picked up a phone handset and dialed a number, shaking his head at the spectacle. "She's awake," he said. "But I wouldn't go so far as to say she's recovering well."

* * *

Author's notes:

For those of you who are curious, the book that would tick Hild off is _The Screwtape Letters_ by C.S. Lewis. While it has a distinctly religious focus, I would recommend it as an enjoyable read to anyone who is willing to keep an open mind. It's really quite entertaining.

As for Malory's _Morte Darthur_, I apologize if I mix up some of it with T.H. White's _The Once and Future King_, because it is the latter that stick in my mind with regards to the Arthurian legend.

I hope you are enjoying this so far! Please be sure to let me know what you think, good or bad!

-Taskforce


	4. Decisions

Disclaimer: Oh My Goddess!/Ah! My Goddess does not belong to me.

* * *

Lind shivered as evening approached, the movement all but unnoticeable should any care to look. She was not cold; the air in Heaven was warm in keeping with the realm's state of perpetual summer.

She reached up a hand and brushed her collar, feeling the hardness and alien sensation of the metal insignia there. It was the source of her discomfort. _It shouldn't have been this way. It was supposed to be different_.

It should have been a happy time for her, the happiest of times. She had passed her Trials, been escalated from her probationary status, and sworn in as an officer of the Combat Division.

The ceremony had been necessarily rushed, without the pomp and circumstance with which such promotions were usually done. In better times, she would have lined up with her fellow candidates to reaffirm the Oath they had sworn, sometimes years before. The Great Houses would send their envoys and the Almighty might make an appearance to give His blessing.

That had been impossible. Division was gearing up for a major operation. _LOW BOUNCE_ was in effect, and the muster had begun. Lind knew the risks they would be taking. The Roundtable just threw a monkey wrench into every contingency plan they came up with. The lack of the Doublet enforcer meant that any confrontation in Realm Five-One-Two could become very deadly very quickly. While she was confident in the abilities of Heaven's defenders, the risks compared to a normal operation were much higher.

If they were forced into a situation where extraction-under-fire was necessary, the differences between the Roundtable and current programs could make taking a line out difficult at best. The team could very well be trapped in the detached realm with disastrous consequences. To compensate for the increased risk, Division was being stretched too thin for comfort as additional resources were brought into play.

They needed all the competent help they could get. The centuries of peace following the Great War had left Heaven vulnerable, unable to respond effectively to a crisis. Now they were paying for that mistake.

_And here I am_, thought Lind, _a ready augmenter_. She was surprised to find that she was not too bitter about her promotion. It had lacked the luster of her imagination, but she was not here for herself.

Gwydion and Commander Hensara had called her aside after they had returned from the briefing with Michael. Her mentor had explained that with the new strain on personnel, they needed her in an active role.

"You're ready," Gwydion had said as Hensara nodded. "In fact, I think you are more ready than some who trained for much longer."

Lind had nodded slightly, uncertain if she believed her teacher.

Gwydion had placed his hands on her shoulders and caught her eyes. "I'll be frank with you. This isn't what I wanted. By all rights, you should be able to train for months before even considering this possibility. I want to keep you on as my student, and when we get a reprieve from this Roundtable situation, I will continue to teach you."

"The fact is, though, we need you now. A lot of people are going to be pushed into new responsibilities as we gear up for _LOW BOUNCE_. You have the ability—I know you do—and the maturity you need to accept this new role. I'm not saying it will be easy. It won't. But I know you have never settled for the easy path."

The Commander had added her thoughts. "Cadet—Lind—we wouldn't put you in this position if we didn't have faith in you. Gwydion has told me much about you and I agree with his assessment. I want you on the TOC staff. But the decision has to be yours. If there's one thing I don't want, it's a valkyrie unsure of herself during a major operation."

Lind had paused to consider that. "You're right," she had finally said. "And I've made my choice. I'll do it."

Hensara had smiled faintly. "Then it's settled. Come with us."

The ceremony had been short, with Gwydion swearing her in and Hensara and the four Regimental colonels acting witnesses. Without further ceremony she had been sent to the TOC to start learning her new job. The duty officer had spent several hours getting her to learn the basics of command and control before dismissing her.

Now she stood outside the headquarters building, wondering just how much her life was changing.

"It'll be different," a familiar voice said. She turned to see her mentor walking towards her. "Life never turns out the way you expect it to." Gwydion snorted. "I never anticipated that peace would be such an elusive goal when I signed up. Peace… sometimes I just wonder if it exists: '_The gloaming deepens, stars increase, the weary day is dying. Its requiem, murmurous of peace, the vesper winds are, sighing.' _"

Lind stared at her mentor in astonishment. She had never heard him speak that way before. "Sensei…"

Gwydion smiled. "What? I have my dreams, don't I?" The smile faded. "I've been fighting for centuries, Lind. But there's always more fighting to be done."

"Why do you do it?" Lind asked suddenly. "Why keep fighting?"

Gwydion frowned slightly, then sighed and looked down. "I fight so that somewhere, someone I don't know, who will probably never know who I am, will have the peace I wish I could have."

Lind took that in. Gwydion had been her mentor for several years. She had always seen him as the teacher, a powerful figure to respect. His career had been illustrious, his legend widespread. He was the ideal instructor, the ideal valkyrie. Now, for the first time, she was seeing another side of him, a side he didn't broadcast. He was opening up to her almost as a friend.

Gwydion stood lost in thought for a second before turning back to her. He withdrew something from his cloak.

"This is for you," he said, offering her a sheathed saber. "It's tradition for an instructor to give his student a gift when she has finished her training."

She accepted it warily. "I thought you said that you wanted to keep me as a student…"

He nodded. "I do. But you're well and truly one of us now, and when we train, it will be as comrades in arms."

More confidently, she buckled it around her waist. "Thank you," she whispered.

888

Night was also falling in part of the realm known as Earth.

Celestin walked next to Belldandy as the twilight darkened. She was puzzled. Without warning, her instructor had come to the house she shared with her sister and mother and told her to grab her things. They'd traveled down to Realm 403 via hardline only to emerge in a grassy field with nothing around.

Celestin turned to face her. "Belldandy, do you remember what I said when they first placed you in the Goddess Relief Office to assist Earth?" His voice was deadly earnest.

Belldandy blinked. "You said that I would be hurt by the things I would see. That it wouldn't be easy."

"Has it been?" he asked.

"Well…not always," she admitted. "But the joy I get to see when I can make someone's dream come true…that's really something. It makes me who I am."

He shook his head sadly. "You do realize that for every person you reach, thousands more live their lives unfulfilled. They will never realize happiness."

She nodded morosely. "Hai."

"Do you think that's fair?" he asked.

The question rocked her back. "I—I guess I never really thought about it," she confessed.

Celestin pressured the attack. "Don't you think there could be a better way? A way to bring them all happiness? A way to give their lives meaning?"

"I—I…"

He held up a hand. "Soft. I brought you here to show you something." He started walking towards a raised embankment in the distance. "Do you know where we are?" he asked.

Belldandy didn't. "I'm afraid I don't," she said. "What did you want to show me?"

"You'll see, soon enough," he said darkly. "Let me tell you about this place. We're at place on Earth known as Manchuria. It's part of a country called China, and we're not too far from a city named Shenyang. And tonight something is going to happen that will rock Earth to its foundations."

"What will happen?" Belldandy asked. She was starting to get worried. Celestin didn't normally talk this way. It was if the god he was had been changed into a new figure.

He pointed towards the embankment. "Do you see them?" he asked.

"Hai." She could just make out the shapes of the men in the darkness as they huddled near the line of raised earth.

"Watch," he whispered. "It won't be long now."

888

"Damn it, Private!" Lieutenant Suemori Komoto hissed. "We're running out of time if we want this to start tonight!"

"I'm working on it," Hotarunosuke Morisato replied shortly. _How many times to do I have to tell this bonehead that you can't rush explosives?_

He grunted in annoyance as he rigged the blasting caps to the fuses and inserted them into the explosive charges. _They want a big explosion, but it can't destroy anything. Has to look good for the pictures, but the damage must be easily reparable._

He grimaced. _Yeah, right. Because explosives are precision weapons. How did we come up with this one again?_

All in all, his life just sucked. Things had gotten worse ever since he'd been sent to Korea and then Manchuria as part of the Kwantung Army. The officers were pushing for war, the people were far from thrilled to have them here, and it was so far from home. Hokkaido was a sea away.

His life in the Imperial Japanese Army had been one of misfortune. He'd survived the intense—brutal, actually—recruit training only to receive official notice of Chieko's death upon graduation. _I never even got to say goodbye_, he thought bitterly.

He'd decided against going to visit her grave. It would just tear him up, and he didn't want to feel the pain of losing her again. He had left the motorcycle there, figuring it would be his tribute. Someday, perhaps, he would go back there. But it hadn't been the time.

After only a few days to visit his family, he had been on a troop ship bound for occupied Korea. They'd sent him up to the border with China, and he'd been there ever since.

_We've been waiting for war_. And when the war hadn't come soon enough, some of the officers had decided to take matters into their own hands.

Finishing rigging up the explosive setup, he nodded towards to Komoto. "It's ready."

"Set the time. Five minutes." Hotarunosuke complied. "Hit it," Suemori barked.

With the touch of a button, the timer fuse began to count down. The lieutenant waved his hand. "Let's go!"

The five members of the sabotage squad rose noiselessly and began to run away. Their part in the night's events was done.

"This had better work," Komoto muttered.

888

Belldandy watched the men suddenly get up and run. Puzzled, she turned to Celestin. "What's going on? Who were they?"

The councilor had kept his eyes fixed on the spot from where the shadows had risen. "Just watch. It'll only be a minute now."

She shook her head. "I don't understand. What will be—"

She broke off her statement and gasped as a gigantic fireball turned night to day. The explosives detonated spectacularly, creating a roiling cloud of red-gold fire that lit up the landscape. A thunderclap of noise assaulted their ears as the blast traveled outward.

All too quickly, though, the fireball dissipated and the night returned to darkness, illuminated only by small votive fires near the blast site. As the last of the distant boom faded away, she realized she could hear shouting in Japanese.

"What was that?!" someone demanded. "Who fired?"

"Is everyone okay?" someone else asked. "Did anybody get hit?"

As choruses of negative replies followed, someone spoke up. "It was the Chinese garrison! They were trying to take out the railroad."

"Who the hell are you?" the first voice demanded.

"Sergeant Nanahara," the other replied, "on sentry duty! I saw them making for the Chinese base!"

"Shit!" The first exclaimed. "We'd better let HQ know we've got a frigging war on our hands. Everyone else, get your heads out of your asses because it's for real tonight!"

Within moments, the first artillery shells were landing on the Chinese garrison at Mukden. By daybreak, the Kwantung Army would be miles into Chinese territory.

888

Belldandy watched in utter shock. "What is going on? Why are they doing this?"

"It's war, Belldandy," Celestin replied bitterly. "There's nothing pretty, or civilized about it. They don't know how to resolve their differences peacefully. They don't know what it means to live a life with love or with meaning. And they don't know how to seal. It's killing, plain and simple. Utterly purposeless killing."

He had to tug on her arm to pull her eyes away from the scene. "Let's go," he said quietly. "I think you've seen enough."

888

Gwydion hesitated before knocking on the door to the hospital quarters. It was a damned sad thing that it had had to be her squad. She was one of the best officers he had, and had always been enthusiastic to do her part.

From what he had heard, now she had been broken.

He rapped softly on the door. "Rota, it's Gwydion. May I come in?"

Silence greeted him. Figuring that tacit approval would have to be enough, he swung the door open slowly.

The valkyrie was standing, looking out her room's window towards the parks and fields of Heaven outside.

"They're all dead," she said, not bothering to turn and face him. "All except for Galvin, and no one knows where his spirit is hiding."

"It was the big blast at the end," he commented softly. "There was nothing anyone could have done. The demons had us totally outgunned."

"Why did they kill?" she asked abruptly, turning her tear-streaked face towards him. "Why did they kill my team?"

Gwydion sighed heavily, looking down. "We've found out some things about M11397X4 since your mission." This was not going to be good. "One thing is that Doublet doesn't work there."

"What? How could that be?" his friend asked, disbelieving.

"I know it doesn't sound possible," he said, "but the realm has some irregularities. Yggdrasil can't affect it properly, and so the Doublet penalty doesn't apply while you're in the Roundtable."

"The Roundtable?"

"That's what we've taken to calling it," Gwydion explained. "Sort of a long story."

Rota laughed bitterly. "They were waiting for us," she said. "We never had a chance."

"What happened?" Gwydion asked, genuinely curious. He needed information badly.

Rota shook her head. "We had made it about a quarter of a mile on foot from Point Aleph, a staging area located on one of the larger chunks of rock in that damn place. The wind was picking up, and I was starting to get nervous."

"Helvan called out, saying he was getting a reading on the scanners, and that it was possible demonic. Then they were all over us, attacking in force."

She started to have difficulty speaking. "Helvan took a hit to the head in the first minute. We were caught in the open, and tried to run for cover. I tried to call in our position for a strike, but there was no response. Maryn and Yi had started to advance to cover us, but the demons split their forces and blocked them. We were getting flanked by their main force. It was just so fast."

She met his eyes. "If air support hadn't arrived right then, I doubt I'd be here talking to you. We were dead." She shook her dead. "Everyone died anyways."

Gwydion had been expecting something like this, but it still hurt. "There was nothing you could have done," he said gently. "Nothing at all. You did your best to get your team out and you should have succeeded. It was just damn chance that that last blast hit the hardline," he finished bitterly.

"Do I know that?" Rota asked him. "Do I know that I did all I could have done?"

Gwydion sighed. "No, you don't. You will never _know_ that, and you'll always ask that question. But you can trust me when I say that no one could have done better."

"Listen," the avenging angel continued. "We're going back into the Roundtable. We've learned a lot since last time and we're moving in force. Michael wants us to hold a strong position so we can have the upper hand as we adjust the treaty to cover the Roundtable. "

"You're the only valkyrie we've got who's been on the ground. We've debriefed the aerial support team, but you have some of the most relevant knowledge of the area around Point Aleph. I want you to come with us. I need your help."

She glanced at the new rank insignia on his collar. "A major?" she asked in surprise. "You're leading the mission?"

"Yeah," he admitted reluctantly. "It wasn't my idea. I'd still rather be one of the 'guys' they way it used to be, but I lost that battle a long time ago. Hensara wants someone she can count on." He met her gaze. "And I need someone I can count on."

She nodded thoughtfully. "I understand," she said. "I'll go back."

888

Celestin read over the latest reports from Combat Division. _LOW BOUNCE_ was rapidly coming together as units were brief and equipped. The first training exercises were already underway, and Commander Hensara had informed him that they would be ready to execute the first stage of the operation within a week. He hoped so. The time progression relative to Earth was quickening. If something didn't happen soon he would be unable to stop the horrendous devastation he had foreseen.

He had already begun the necessary preparation. His people in the Grigori—yes, of course had them—had informed him that he was still clear of suspicion, and that the Grigori was currently devoted to counterintelligence operations designed to prevent demon infiltration via the Roundtable.

He smiled ironically. That had been a suggestion of his at the last council meeting. Playing off the fears of Heaven's rulers was simple enough if done correctly. The question now was how to get enough people to side with him when the time came. He had support in most echelons of Heaven's infrastructure, thought the Combat Division and the System Administration offices had been remarkably resistant to his influences.

He shrugged. It didn't matter all that much. If his work with Gwydion paid off, and he could use Belldandy's influence as a Norn to work his way into the NOSC, there wouldn't be a problem.

It was all a matter of time.

888

Hild smiled down at the pitiful sight before her. "It really is a shame that Heaven isn't here to see this. I'm sure they would be so torn, Shen," she whispered huskily. "Or maybe they wouldn't," she smiled, twisting the dagger in. "They certainly haven't made any effort to recover you. It would almost seem they don't care about you."

She didn't look up; he couldn't meet her eyes. "They think I'm dead," he muttered in vain resistance.

"Oh no," she said with cruel innocence. "You don't understand. I called them a couple of days ago," she continued nonchalantly, "and told them I might have something they wanted. No answer." She smiled and spread her arms in a gesture of helplessness. "Oh, well. That's just the way the world works."

"You're lying," the broken god whispered. "That can't be true. It _can't_ be."

"Now, now, now," Hild pouted. "What reason would I have to lie? It's not like I'm giving you a false sense of hope, or that things could get any worse? I'm just giving you the cold hard facts of life, my dear."

"No," said Shen desperately. "They wouldn't do that. We never leave our comrades behind."

"Really?" Hild smiled. It was all too easy. "And risk all out war? I think you're being unrealistic here."

"That's not true," Shen struggled to defend his comrades even as he began to wonder why he did so. _They're leaving me to rot here!_ He was angry and confused and in untold amounts of pain. "I know them."

"I'm so glad you think so," Hild grinned evilly. "In that case, you'll be able to see them soon. I think we'll use you as a little trade to make sure we get favorable terms in the upcoming negotiations. After all, I can always kill you if things don't work out." The last was a lie. No, she had special plans for Shen. One way or another.

"Just a little bit longer," she said soothingly. "We'll find out if you actually mean something to heaven after all."

She signaled to the Hellriders who had brought him back before her. "Take him away, I'm done."

As the onetime proud enemy was dragged along the floor, Hild turned to her High Inquisitor. "A glorious job if I do say so myself, Metheus. Exquisitely done."

She smiled. "Michael and his people look to deal from a position of strength. So do I. Either way things go at the negotiations, this works towards our own ends. Contact Heaven. Let Michael know I'll be ready to deal when he is." She rubbed her hands together. "Oh, the fun is just beginning!"

* * *

A/N: The poetry quoted is by Harry Morant, an Australian 'cowboy', soldier, and poet. The events taking place on Earth are quite real, occuring in September of 1931. That's about it for now. I hope you liked it!


	5. H Hour

Disclaimer: Oh/Ah! My Goddess does not belong to me.

* * *

A blinding flash of light lit up the Roundtable even as a tremendous _bang_ shook the ethereal debris field. One of the chunks of rock disappeared in a cloud of gas and fine particles as it was hit by the projectile from a hypervelocity cannon.

Standing on the bridge of the _Peregrine_, Gwydion surveyed the wide view of the deadly realm. Commander Hensara stood next to him, taking in the bleak scenery outside the windows.

She arched an eyebrow. "Not much here to look at. We're preparing to fight Hild… for _this_?"

Gwydion pursed his lips. "Hopefully it won't come to that."

"It's not our job to trust in hope," Hensara replied.

The _Peregrine_ lumbered slowly forward at a snail's pace, occasionally using its kinetic energy weapons to clear its flight path. The Great Ship, three hundred meters in length and half that in width, navigated the debris field that made up Realm 512 with a stately grace that reflected the care of her creators and the skill of her crew. Once the prime method of transit between realms, the Great Ships had become largely redundant. With travel mediums personalized for most deities, and hardline transport readily available, the ships were no longer needed as transports.

_But when hardlines won't do,_ Gwydion thought, _these will work in a pinch._ He smiled grimly. _And they have other uses as well_.

Directly ahead, the largest chunk of rock—more like a planetoid than not—hung in the indescribable ethereal medium that made up the Roundtable. Designated Tav One, it would be the initial objective of their move to secure Realm Five-One-Two.

Early in the planning stages of _LOW BOUNCE_, several of the commanders had raised concerns that simply attempting to use hardlines to storm the Roundtable without having an advance team secure the entry points would lead to another ambush and slaughter.

Gwydion had agreed. To that end he had contacted Heaven's shipwrights and succeeded in procuring the _Peregrine _for use in the Roundtable. Outfitted with a new docking collar and EM acceleration cannons, the ship was ready to play a star role in the operation. _An insertion team might be ambushed successfully. This won't._

Around the Great Ship, divided into pairs and trios, valkyries flew cover, alert for any sign of demonic threats as the ship slowed ponderously to a stop.

Gwydion glanced for the umpteenth-time at the sensors boards. There was still no sign of demonic presence or realm restructuring effects. He keyed his communicator. "All units, this is Ironhand. Execute 'blossom'. Assault teams: _go_."

The _Peregrine_ shuddered as a dozen smaller craft launched from the larger transport. The valkyries on station formed up on the nimble Seraphim and followed them down to the surface. The assault craft came to a hover before disgorging valkyries and equipment onto the ground. When no immediate threat presented itself, the airborne units returned to their high guard as the ground units fanned out to form a perimeter.

Gwydion nodded appreciatively. The landing was proceeding without a hitch in textbook fashion. This was good, but the fact that Hild's forces hadn't put up _any_ resistance to Heaven's move on the Roundtable had him worried. _If she's not opposing us here, that means she's not worried about our stationing here. That means that either she's confident in her ability to negotiate or has some other plan in the works._

He turned back to the viewport. With the landing zone secured, techs were setting up temporary hardlines that would allow reinforcements to come in directly from Heaven. Within moments Tav One would be fully under their control.

Abruptly, the communicator crackled. "Ironhand, this is Oblivion One-Six."

Gwydion reached for the comm. "Go ahead, Oblivion."

"Sir, we've reached Point Aleph and secured a perimeter. There was no resistance. It's just that, well…I think you should come down here." The valkyrie sounded distinctly uncomfortable.

"What is it?" Gwydion was suddenly apprehensive. There had been something in her tone that set off alarm bells in his head.

"Well, uh, the Daimakaicho—she's here."

"_What?!"_

888

The Seraphim assault craft jostled in the unpredictable wind currents as it descended to the surface of Tav One. Trying to ignore the turmoil in his gut, Gwydion shifted his gaze to the other passenger in the shuttle.

Rota had been silent for nearly the entire descent, mirroring her taciturn attitude for the whole of the operation. Though Gwydion had requested that she join him for the mission, he knew that she was far from recovered from her last disastrous venture into the Roundtable. He had kept an eye on her ever since she'd been released by the healers, and was concerned by her behavior. _I need her help and her experience, especially in light of what she faced here. But I don't need any more unknown variables in play._

The Seraphim's pilot, a cocky god named Meness, twisted in the command couch to look at them. He threw Gwydion a thumbs-up.

"Better hang on, sir!" The avenging angel grinned. "We're going in hot."

"Damn right you are," Gwydion smiled in spite of himself. "I'd be disappointed if you did anything else."

"Well, okay then!" replied the pilot as he faced forward. "Don't say I didn't warn you."

Gwydion was about to reply when the Seraphim banked suddenly before lurching downward. The negative g-forces resulted in a feeling of weightlessness as the assault craft dropped like a rock towards the objective. Abruptly, Meness pulled back on the control yoke and the craft pulled out of the dive, coming to a hover half a meter off the surface of the planetoid to avoid setting off potential mines.

"Go Go Go!" the pilot shouted over his shoulder as he hit the control for the access panel. Moving rapidly, Gwydion and Rota hit the releases for their harnesses and dove through the opening. Within seconds the Seraphim was ascending back into the air as if a dragon was after it.

Standing back up, the two officers were greeted by a valkyrie in full combat gear. "Major! Lieutenant! This way!" the valkyrie shouted, straining to be heard over the sound of the wind and the departing shuttle. She waved them towards a rock outcropping on the surface and they ran over to the valkyries there.

The commander, a sergeant of the Spartan regiment, pointed to the outcropping. "Take a look there, sir," he said. "She hasn't done anything more than wave."

Gwydion looked closer, then squinted his eyes. _No, that can't be right_. Hild was lounging nonchalantly in a beach chair, wearing a pair of sunglasses and waving lazily at the assault team.

"Almighty best and brightest…" he muttered under his breath, shaking his head. What would happen next? Would a platoon of hellriders show up with a barbeque grill and Budweisers?

"Well, so much for a textbook case," the war mage grunted. He glanced over at his aide. "Any ideas?"

Rota's eyes smoldered. "We tell that bitch where she can go and what she can do to herself," she snarled. "_My_ people died _here_ and she's acting like nothing happened."

Gwydion raised his eyebrows. That was probably the longest single string of words Rota had spoken in the last week. "Let me get this straight: you just want to go up there like she isn't the most powerful demon in existence and give her a piece of your mind.

Rota didn't reply.

He nodded his head fractionally. _Well, what the hell…why not?_ "All right, then." He turned to the Spartan. "If this goes south, have the Peregrine drop a thunderbolt." _Hensara's still up there. She'll be able to take over if anything happens to us._

"Understood." The god smiled grimly. "Good luck."

"Thanks." Gwydion turned and began striding purposely towards the sunbathing demon. He was ignoring pretty much all of his training and the universally accepted rules of combat with his advance. But ever since this whole business had started, he'd felt the urge to play it by ear. _Nothing is as it seems. Besides_, he thought, _as they say, if you need a few stiff drinks before you jump onto Sleipnir, you're finished_.

Hild grinned at their approach. "My, my! What an elaborate show you've put on! Flawless execution! Innovative tactics!" She used a finger to lower her shades, exposing violet eyes. "It was your plan, wasn't it?"

"It was." Gwydion frowned. "What do you want?" he asked flatly.

Her expression of nonchalance disappeared and she stiffened. "Do you dare speak that way to me?" she hissed. "I know you know who I am. I could kill you right now, before you ever knew what hit you. Do you think your lives mean anything to me? I could wipe out your pitiful assault force with a wave of my hand.

Gwydion started to sweat. This conversation was not going nearly the direction he'd hoped.

Her expression softened. She relaxed again. "But we really shouldn't have to resort to such unpleasantness."

"My demands are quite simple, really," she said, raising her arms in an all-encompassing gesture. "I want all of this. This realm. What else did you expect?" She rolled her eyes. "What do I always want?"

Rota snorted. "You think we will meekly hand it over? You can profess your incredible powers as you like, but I don't think you'd fare too well against the battalion of valkyries we have here."

Hild afforded them a sardonic smile. "Despite what you may have heard about me, I'm not much one for fighting." She waved her hand vaguely. "You know—make love, not war; live and let live; give peace a chance and all that." She yawned. "I'd really prefer not to go through all the trouble of calling in a regiment of demons just to hash it out over this junk heap. Even without Doublet to worry about it's just too much of an annoyance."

"You wouldn't go through this whole spiel if you didn't have something else in mind," Gwydion said darkly. "Why don't you just go ahead and tell us what you want to say and be done with it."

"Patience, patience!" Hild admonished him. "I could simply tell you, but if a picture is worth a thousand words, then this will be worth a million." She reached up and plucked a jewel from her hair, then tossed it on the ground. There was a flash of light, and then…

The avenging angel felt his blood run cold. Next to him, he sensed Rota go rigid. _It can't be…_

A naked figure, pale and covered in wounds, was sprawled where the gem had hit the ground. An angry red wound that could only be described as a crater adorned his chest. The figure made a weak movement to look at the two valkyries. "Help me…" he moaned, trying to catch their eyes.

Rota's mouth dropped open in shock. "Shen!" she cried. She started to run forward but smashed against an invisible barrier.

Hild waved a finger reproachfully. "Now, now," she said, "There will be none of that. He's mine, you know." She winked at them. "And I've kind of taken a liking to him, if you know what I mean."

Gwydion gritted his teeth. This was _definitely_ not going well. "Are you just trying to taunt us, _demon_, or is this part of your negotiation?"

Hild's violet eyes flashed poisonously. "Oh, don't play dumb," she growled. "It's very simple. If you want to have your friend back, I'd be happy to give him to you. In exchange for this realm. Otherwise I'll just have to torture him for the rest of eternity." She shrugged. "I really don't care either way."

Gwydion bit back a few choice words. This was not going to sound good. "You seem to be under the impression we came to negotiate with you."

Hild scowled and folded her arms. "You're trying to tell me you aren't? I didn't know Heaven lied so callously."

"I'm not lying," the avenging angel replied. "What do you mean?"

"Well, you call up your old flame upstairs and tell him you wouldn't mind having a nice little chat," Hild said dryly. "He agrees, so you try and arrange a meeting. Not that I expected _him_ to show up," she said snidely, "but I at least thought he'd send someone to hear me out." She sighed. "Oh well, though. If you're not here to negotiate, I guess I'd better just get back to my day job." She started to rise.

"Wait!" cried Rota, unable to restrain herself. "You can't just go!"

All the playfulness left the Daimakaicho's expression. "Who's to stop me, little valkyrie?" she said softly. Addressing Gwydion, her voice rang deadly serious. "Enough of this. Tell Heaven that if they want their valkyrie returned, and don't want a war on their hands, they'll deal with me for this realm. Otherwise…"

Her eyes flashed. "I'll kill you all."

888

Lind was distinctly uncomfortable. The young valkyrie stood in the NOSC, control station for Yggdrasil, and surveyed the banks of monitors set up for the purpose of regulating reality.

This was one of the jobs that the Combat Division didn't advertise in its recruiting pitches. She had been assigned to NOSC as the 1CD attaché for _LOW BOUNCE_, responsible for liaising with the system administrators to coordinate any supporting operations using Yggdrasil. It hadn't proved to be an especially difficult job, particularly because the nature of the Roundtable precluded the use of many of the usual supporting programs Combat usually ran through Heaven's supercomputer. Furthermore, Gwydion and Hensara hadn't reported any trouble so far, so their intervention hadn't been necessary.

No, she was uncomfortable around these goddesses. The system administrators had been nearly in awe of her simply because of her status as a valkyrie. She thanked the Almighty that they apparently hadn't heard the rumors about her angel.

The goddess frowned ever so slightly. Gwydion had voiced his suspicions that her angel was not abnormal but one of a pair of rare twins. It was extremely uncommon, but it was possible. Her drive to become a valkyrie, originally a way for her to validate her own worth, had turned into a quest to bring forth her second angel. _I need to strengthen myself beyond any other god. Perhaps then I will have the power and control necessary to bring her forth._

She was pulled out of her reverie by the call of one of the administrators. _What was her name? Ere?_

She walked over to the terminal where Ere and another of the administrators were working. "Yes?"

Ere looked up slightly nervously. "Um, we've discovered something about realm Five-One-Two that I think is important."

"What is it?" Lind asked, curious.

The dark-haired goddess indicated the screen. "Urd and I were going over the structure of the realm as it is interpreted by the Yggdrasil and Nidhogg systems. We've been trying to decipher this interface for some time." She paused. "How much of this are you familiar with?"

Lind considered. "I know what they briefed us on. Supposedly it's some sort neutral zone, where Yggdrasil can influence it but not control it."

"Pretty much," agreed Ere. "Our higher level programs tend not to function like their supposed to when we execute them remotely using Yggdrasil." She shrugged. "It's possible that if you installed a subsidiary network within the Roundtable it could function more effectively, but that's just speculation."

"So what have you found?" asked Lind. This wasn't quite her area of expertise, and she didn't want Ere to go into an in-depth technical description of the computer interface.

Ere bit her lip. "We've discovered something else about the realm. Because of the unique way Yggdrasil interfaces with the Roundtable, space has become profoundly distorted along the link. A similar distortion occurs between the realm and Hell due to the influence of Nidhogg."

"It doesn't seem like enough to make a big deal about," the administrative goddess continued, "but according to our research it could have catastrophic consequences."

"I'm not following you," Lind said, confused.

The other goddess, Urd, turned around. "It's like this. The distortion between the Roundtable and Heaven makes it much easier to set up a hardline, or multiple hardlines, between the realms. The same goes for Hell." The white-haired goddess's expression turned dark. "If the Roundtable is manipulated into serving as a proxy for either system, it's possible that one side could set up hardline access to the opposing realm."

Lind got it. "So if the demons were able to gain control of the Roundtable, it might be possible for them to bypass Heaven's defenses and enter directly."

Urd nodded. "Yes. Conceivably we could do the same to them."

"I understand." Lind nodded, her expression betraying none of roiling emotions she was feeling. "I need to contact Combat immediately."

"Of course," agreed Ere. She pointed. "The phones are right over there."

888

"Everything just can't be simple," grumbled Urd as she turned back to the terminal.

"Of course it can't." Ere smirked just a little. "Speaking of which, what happened to the infamous 'Lady Urd' routine back there? I don't think I've ever heard you speak that civilized before."

Urd growled, letting a spark of lightning play off her fingertips. "She's a valkyrie, Ere. They're _crazy_. I'm not in the business of annoying dangerous people for no reason." She paused, letting a slight smile tug at her lips. "Well, at least not _mos_t of the time."

"What else do you have in the works today?" asked her partner. "This business isn't enough to get you complaining."

"Time dilation surge." Urd sighed. "You know, I almost wish I had some younger sister I could use to handle all these inconvenient bug problems. Flags are shooting up everywhere today."

"You could ask Belldandy for help," Ere suggested. "She's pretty good at this sort of thing."

"Belldandy's busy being the perfect goddess of the month," Urd grumbled. "Anyways, she has to finish her training under Celestin and get her job at the Relief Office cemented before she can afford to be distracted."

Ere smiled. "How about Peorth, then?"

Urd looked at her like she was crazy. "Almighty, woman! Do you think I want to hear '_Mon Dieu_, Urd, _C'est un simple problem, oui_?' for hours? Leave the flower girl out of this." The Norn shook her head. "It's just something I'll have to take care of myself."

Ere nodded seriously. "I understand. If you need any help…"

"Don't worry about it." Urd waved her hand dismissively. "Combat needs you here." She shrugged. "I don't think this will be a problem, honestly."

"Alright, then." Ere smiled. "Good luck."

"Thanks." Urd stood and walked back to her personal terminal. The time dilation surge wasn't really an error in the system. The surges occurred fairly regularly, and generally weren't harmful—they just caused the flow of time to pass more quickly in another realm relative to Heaven's time.

Pulling up the system report, she glanced over it. _Okay,_ she thought, _time dilation is surging in Realm Four-Zero-Three_. She frowned. Earth was one of the few realms where time dilation had the potential to be troublesome. Heaven's relief agencies had to interface with Earth in alignment with terrestrial time, so Yggdrasil was forced to compensate for the time difference when wishes were being made. The faster time flowed on Earth relative to Heaven, the more work the supercomputer had to do to compensate.

The thought of the relief agencies being inconvenienced brought a smile to her face as she thought of her little sister slightly flustered. Belldandy was generally so calm; it was hard to imagine her sister getting worked up about nearly anything.

Urd typed a few commands into her terminal, searching for her sister on Earth. _Who knows, she might be down there right now, making some human's wish come true._ The thought of her sister suddenly appearing to some random mortal was amusing. _I'd love to be able to see their expression._

The computer _pinged_, and a map of Earth appeared with her sister's location displayed. " 'Inner Mongolia'?" Urd read the displayed name aloud, puzzled. _What's she doing there?_

She decided to find out. Strictly speaking, she didn't have permission to access the Goddess Relief Office's files, but they were stored on the Yggdrasil mainframe and Urd could retrieve them. Typing in a few commands, she pulled up the files.

_There're no wishes from Inner Mongolia listed_. Urd frowned, becoming more and more uneasy. Belldandy was on Earth, but she was off mission. _Why would sis be there?_

On a whim, she keyed up a search for all deities active in Inner Mongolia. There was the usual assortment of Earth Spirits and other such figures, plus an uncharacteristically high concentration of demons. But one name popped to the top of the list.

"Celestin," Urd growled. _Oh, hell…_ She wasn't sure what caused the feeling, but she felt distinctly uncomfortable with the thought of Belldandy down on Earth with the councilor.

Well, in true Lady Urd fashion, there was something she could do. Standing up, she called over to Ere.

"Ere, I'm stepping out for a bit."

The dark-haired goddess looked up in surprise. "Where are you heading?" she asked.

"Earth," she replied honestly. She figured lying really wouldn't give her any advantage.

"Did the Almighty give you permission to go down?" Ere asked, becoming alarmed at this turn of events.

Urd shrugged. "Details, details." She reached for the screen of the television she kept at her desk.

"No, wait! Urd--!"

But the Yggdrasil SYSOP was already disappearing into the screen.

888

A high-pitch whine filled the sky, the tone descending to a baritone before the ground shook noticeably and an explosion blossomed in the sky. The _ratta-tat-tat_ of automatic weapons fire rang through the air, occasionally rising in violent crescendos before setting back down to the occasional burst. Smoke rose from numerous burnt out buildings, and rubble filled the streets of Chifeng, Rehe province, Inner Mongolia.

Belldandy watched it all with sadness in her heart.

The fighting had been ongoing for days. The Japanese Kwantung Army had moved into the Rehe province as part of its assault on the north of the Great Wall. Most of the small towns in the eastern part of Mongolia had fallen without more than a few shots, but the defense at Chifeng had received warning of the assault and dug in. Now they were putting up a ferocious, but ultimately futile defense against the aggressing Japanese forces.

Celestin had prohibited her from interfering. "It is important for you to understand these people," he had said. "You have to understand why they are not like us, and why they need our help."

"But why can't I help them?" the young goddess cried desperately. "They're in such great pain and suffering!"

"Now you understand," her mentor replied. "Now you understand why I am so frustrated with Heaven—they allow this to continue and prevent me from interfering and helping these people."

"I don't understand," Belldandy said, confused. "Why would they stop you?"

A flash of contempt crossed her mentor's otherwise kind face. "Because they are cowards, who refuse to do what is necessary to help the mortals on Earth." He stared into her eyes. "They're afraid, Belldandy. They're afraid of taking too drastic of an action."

"They don't understand that the big picture is what matters. That we must risk short-term suffering in order to help these people reach happiness." The contempt faded from Celestin's face, and his kind, concerned expression return. The expression she trusted and loved.

He took her hand in his "I need your help, Belldandy. Together we can make a difference in the world." He paused. "I can't do it without you, and...I want you by my side."

* * *

A/N: Sorry about the delay on this one. Things are prety busy here.

This chapter was the hardest to write so far. I had a ton of distractions and had to fight some serious writer's bock. Hopefully that will pass.

Anyways, I hope you all enjoy it. Please take the time to let me know what you think. I for one know that what's transpired so far was not what I originally intended to happen, but I do have a plan. Let me know if I'm taking this in the wrong direction. And thanks for reading.

--Taskforce


	6. Insurrection

Disclaimer: Oh/Ah! My Goddess does not belong to me.

* * *

Belldandy's eyes widened. For a long moment only the background sounds of war were audible.

"Celestin," she finally gasped. "I-I don't know what to say."

"I do," a third voice snarled from behind them. "Get the hell away from my sister!"

The mentor and student spun around to find a soot-covered Urd, her eyes blazing and electricity dancing from her fingertips.

"Who the hell do you think you are?!" demanded Urd. "You're bringing Belldandy, the best of Heaven, off mission and into the middle of a _war zone_? Hild's left tit, have you no responsibility, no conscience?"

"It was necessary that I do so," Celestin countered. "She has to learn what the people of Earth are truly like in order to be able to help them."

Urd snorted. "So, this battle is everything she needs to know about humanity? Kind of a skewed perspective, if you ask me. What else have you shown her?"

Celestin's expression hardened. "Enough," the god replied. "Enough for her to begin to realize what is necessary."

Urd shook her head. "You're deranged."

Belldandy, a look of confusion and worry etched onto her face, glanced between her mentor and her sister. "Neesan?" she asked uncertainly. "What is going on?" She glanced over her sister's soot-covered clothing. "And what _happened_ to you?"

Urd looked annoyed. "You should try traveling by television into a battle in a country where barely _anyone_ owns a TV and see what happens." She shuddered. "As for why I'm here…" she stabbed a finger at Celestin. "Your wonderful mentor is _way_ out of bounds."

"I am perfectly within my limits here," the councilor retorted. "Rather, I think _you're_ the one who's overstepped her authority. Do you have permission to be down here, Urd?"

Urd's eyes blazed. "Do _you_?" she countered.

The god scoffed. "I sit on Heaven's council. I go where I wish, especially to the realm with which I am charged."

"I know that." Urd scowled. "But I don't think that entitles you to bring down students out of the blue, or bring them into Earth's conflicts."

"You're mistaken, Goddess _Second-class_ Urd," Celestin snarled. "And I grow tired of your meddling as I try to teach my student and charge!"

Urd smiled grimly. "Showing your true colors at last, huh?" She raised her hand and a ball of static electricity coalesced over her head. "What'll it be? Regular or extra crispy?"

"Neesan, please!" Belldandy begged. "This is some sort of misunderstanding. Please don't fight Celestin. He only has my best interests at heart."

Urd looked at her in disbelief. "You aren't actually falling for that, are you?" she said incredulously. She addressed the councilor. "I always knew there was something wrong with you," she declared. "I never could put my finger on it, but I knew it was there. But _this_?" Her voice was thick with disgust. "You're no better than a Brau Demon."

Celestin's expression was as hard as stone. "Belldandy." She looked at him questioningly, tears in her eyes. "Leave this place. Go back to Heaven."

"But--" She started to protest.

The god shook his head. "Now is not the time to argue." He met her gaze. "I'll explain everything to you. You know I won't hurt you. But you must go, now."

Hurt and confused, the young goddess nodded. She turned and found a shard of a mirror, disappearing into the soot-covered glass.

Celestin turned back the silver-haired goddess floating before him. He had regained his composure, and his voice was calm. "You should have never gotten involved."

There was no warning. The magical blast slammed into her like a meteor, knocking her backwards onto the ground and erasing all reason from her mind. Urd looked up to see the rogue god standing over her, muttering an incantation, as she felt magical bonds seize her body. She struggled against the invisible restraints, but it was no use. Perhaps if she had been able to call out her angel…but there was no use in wishful thinking.

Celestin finished the incantation. His eyes opened and found hers. "It's really a shame," he commented. "I would have preferred to avoid situations like this one. You've forced me to move up my timeline considerably. Well, you and this time dilation surge," he admitted. "I'm afraid that I'll have to keep you out of the way for the time being. And the time situation—well, the Divine Guardian and I should be able to work out a compromise."

She couldn't speak, but the question formed in her eyes. _Why?_

Celestin understood. "To right the immoral ways of the gods," he replied sadly. "To guarantee happiness for all. It's a shame really, because in the process, it's people like you that have the most to gain. If you could have just minded your own damn business, you might have realized the beauty of what I'm doing, _fait accompli_." He sighed. "But you didn't, did you."

He raised a hand, and magical energy swirled around it. "Good night, Urd. See you on the other side."

Darkness fell over her mind, and she knew no more.

Celestin stood over her lifeless body. She would be out for—well, a long time at any rate. It wouldn't do to leave her out in the open, though. She would have to be sealed.

While still pondering what to seal her in, he withdrew a communicator from a pocket in his councilor's robes. He held it to his lips.

"Begin it."

888

Gwydion and Rota exchanged looks of disbelief. What could Hild possibly want in the Roundtable so much that she was willing to risk outright war with Heaven?

Hild smiled at them. "Well, what will it be?" she asked. She looked at Rota. "Or do you not care? Perhaps you would prefer to join your ill-fated comrades in oblivion?"

Rota snarled at her. "You'll pay for that. And for all the other crimes you've committed."

Hild turned to Gwydion. "She has quite a temper, truly. I swear, you Gods are not quite as high and mighty as you'd like to think. But you might want to keep her from running her mouth off when it's unwelcome."

Gwydion didn't have a comeback to that. A thought unbidden suddenly pressed into his mind: _What are we doing here?_

He felt a wave of doubt roll over him. He'd never sat back and wondered why they had to be in the Roundtable to begin with. No gods lived there, and it had little strategic value. It wasn't suitable for settling. It was just a jumble of debris, and the beacon of energy Yggdrasil had detected had probably come from Hild's forces.

All his time prior to this, he had been so focused on the mission he hadn't taken the time to put it into perspective. They had had to go back in, to avenge Rota's team and to make sure the demons didn't take over another realm. _But in this case, does it even really matter?_

Hild saw it in his expression and smiled.

Gwydion looked over at Rota, but her expression mirrored his own. He knew she was angry about the deaths of so many of her friends. But if turning over this rock garden was the key to getting one of them back, she would do it.

Still unsure, the avenging angel reached for his communicator. "Valhalla, this Ironhand…" he said awkwardly, his mind in turmoil. He had been so sure of himself just a moment before…

His voice must have betrayed his unease, because Hensara's voice was tinged with concern. "Gwydion," she said, disregarding communications practice, "are you okay? We detected an energy field down there. Is Hild there? What does she want?"

"We're...We're here," the god replied. "The Daimakaicho wants the Roundtable for herself. She has Shen."

"_Shen?!"_ Hensara exclaimed. "He's alive?"

"Yes," Gwydion confirmed. "She wants to barter using him."

There was a long pause at the other end of the transmission. Hensara's voice came through at last. "Gwydion, we've received some new information about the Roundtable. Hild _can't be allowed_ to occupy it! If she does, Heaven may be compromised!"

The pressure on his mind increased painfully. "We have no choice," Gwydion gasped. Next to him, Rota fell to her knees, holding her head. What was happening to him? "She'll…kill us all."

"Gwydion? Talk to me. Gwydion!" The communicator squawked with Hensara's voice, but the avenging angel couldn't reply. Voices and memories tore through his head too quickly for him to sort them. Visions of the past, the present, and future—he had no way of discerning—ripped through his skull, tearing at his sanity. His mind was in a vortex of flashing light that whirled uncontrollably.

_"Why do you do it? Why keep fighting?"_ The question popped into his head. The speaker was different, but the words seemed so familiar.

_It's so hard sometimes_, his soul answered. _It's so hard to keep on fighting. To endure in this existence_.

_They why do it?_

For a second it was as if every feeling, sensation, thought, and function of his body ceased. He was in a white room, and Lind was standing in front of him, a questioning look on her face.

_Why, sensei?_

He opened his mouth to speak, and remembered the words he had to say.

888

The duty officer in the TOC had his eyes glued on the tactical display in disbelief. _Almighty, that energy field is huge!_

There was no way for him to know exactly what was going on in the Roundtable, but he knew it wasn't good. Something had just happened on Tav One, but few details were available as of yet. There had been a burst of demonic power, but it hadn't been focused so much as _radiated_.

He turned to the goddess on the comms board. "Contact the NOSC and Yggdrasil Operations. We may have to use their resources for this."

The golden-tressed goddess nodded and reached for the phone.

Behind them, the doors to the TOC slid open.

The duty officer turned around to see a fairy spirit and several other gods enter the TOC through the doors. "Excuse me," he said, mildly annoyed, "but this is a restricted area. You can't be here."

The fairy nodded and raised her hand. Without warning she fired a sealing spell at his chest. The unfortunate Spartan had no chance to dodge.

The communications goddess picked up the phone and started to speak before a second blast sealed her as well.

Behind the fairy, the other gods leveled weapons at the few remaining members of the short-staffed TOC detail, and they froze. There was no point in them trying to resist unarmed.

Morgan smiled grimly. "That's right. Don't move and you don't die. I sealed first, but from now on it's for real." She walked over to the master control panel and hit a button. "Initiate lockdown. Council override: Edda-One-Seven-Theta."

The sound of doors clanging shut throughout 1CD headquarters echoed through the room. Several of the gods who had entered stationed themselves at various terminals in the TOC and began typing out commands.

Morgan started giving commands. "Shut down the hardlines to the Roundtable," she ordered. "And shift communications to this station."

She pulled out her communicator. "We're secure here. Your turn." _At long last, I will have my heart's desire!_

888

"Understood. We're starting now." Celestin thumbed off the communicator and turned to the other god. "Your people are ready?"

"Completely," Loki assured him. He gestured to his dark-clad commando team. "We'll move in on the Yggdrasil operations center and secure it. After that, I'll make it available for your use."

"You must not fail," Celestin reminded him. "Only with the NOSC secured can this plan succeed."

"I know." Loki smiled. "One thing to remember, though, Celestin. I'm not here because I'm one of your converts. I have no personal stake in this. I'm here because, well," the trickster god shrugged, "this is what I do."

Celestin looked at him for a long moment before nodding. "I understand. Fortune be with you."

Loki nodded before hoisting an energy rifle. "Well, I never trusted that bitch much anyways."

Celestin took that as his dismissal. He didn't have any more time to waste. He had to get to Belldandy.

888

As the world morphed back into existence in slow-motion in front of Gwydion, several things happened at once.

First he realized he had control of his faculties again. The pressure on his mind had disappeared as if someone had flipped a switch.

Secondly, he noted that Rota was no longer next to him. The valkyrie was leaping forward, her mouth open in an inaudible cry.

Hild was looking upward, her attention on them gone and her expression one of hatred and contempt.

And then he knew.

He threw himself flat on the ground, calling forth all his energy and power as a god to create a shield and hoping it would be enough.

The hypervelocity cannon on the Peregrine roared with a surge of electromagnetic energy. With a flash of superheated air, the barrel spat one of the blessed projectiles towards the surface of Tav One. Traveling nearly ten times the speed of sound on Earth, the solid projectile contained an immense amount of kinetic energy—more than enough to devastate an area twenty meters square.

It hit milliseconds after firing.

The ground shook like the smash of Thor's hammer. Gwydion's world was turned upside down, then over again, then shaken with more violence than he could have ever imagined. A blinding flash lit up his vision even with his eyes squeezed shut, and a monstrous thunderclap ferociously assaulted his ears.

It was unlike anything he'd experienced up to that point. The utter shock of the impact seemed to try to shake him out of his body, and he felt his magical barrier weaken to the point where it neared collapse. He had no choice but to ride out the storm.

The rumbling ceased, and the assault on his senses faded. Hesitantly, he started to pick up his head. Dust was everywhere, but he managed to ascertain that he was in a newly formed crater. He could feel no sign of Hild's presence, though, which he took as a victory. Standing up cautiously, he surveyed the destruction, looking for Rota and Shen

The wind started to blow the dust away, revealing his valkyries. Rota was lying on top of an unconscious Shen, her body slumped and unmoving.

He staggered over to the two warriors. "Rota! Are you okay?" he called. "Is Shen okay?"

Rota turned her head weakly towards her commander, offering up a small smile. "He'll be okay," she murmured. "I knew Hild… wouldn't bother to take him along. He wasn't worth enough in comparison to her life." Her smile blossomed for the first time since the Windrunner probe. "I shielded him, Gwydion. I knew he couldn't make it on his own."

Her body started to grow more transparent and slowly sublimate. Gwydion looked on in horror. "Oh no…Almighty, no-"

"I thought… I failed them all, before…" she gasped. "But…you see…I got…one of them….out."

Her body lost definition, turning into a haze that was blown in the breeze.

Gwydion felt tears sting his eyes.

888

Lind noticed Ere's outburst. "What is it? Where did Urd go?" she asked, wondering what was going on.

Ere turned to her fearfully, "Umm…Ms Lind. Urd, as one of system administrators, had to deal with a problem on Earth that regarded the Yggdrasil system." The goddess tried to be nonchalant, but her acting was unimpressive.

Lind nodded, betraying no emotion. "I see," she said thoughtfully. "Which is why you asked her if she had permission to go down and she evaded your question?"

Ere racked her brains to come up with a suitable answer that would keep Urd out of trouble. "Ummm…."

Lind cut her off. "Enough. I know enough to realize when something's happening that shouldn't." She gestured to Urd's work station. "Let's take a look, shall we?"

Ere nodded and they both walked over to the terminal. Lind looked over the recent activity. "What does all this mean?" she asked.

"She was searching on Earth for her sister, Belldandy," Ere explained. "She must have seen something that alarmed her, because she took off right afterwards to go down there."

"Hmmm." Lind thought for a moment. "And would you consider Urd to be someone who gets worked up over minor issues?"

Ere thought for a moment. "Urd can be a bit of a trickster from time to time. She has a wild streak. But generally I don't see her get riled up like she was unless it's something very serious."

"I understand." Lind peered at the screen. Urd's last search had been of divine signatures within a region of Realm 403. One name had been highlighted. _Celestin_.

Lind remembered the councilor from the Windrunner fiasco. It had been Celestin that had distracted her mentor from the possible plight of the team. Now something else weird was happening that involved the god. Figuring that she should report this to Combat, even if it turned out to be unimportant, she switched on her communicator.

And just as quickly shut it off when a high-pitched squeal emerged. The comm was being jammed. _And jamming on the defense frequencies can men only a couple of things, none of which are good._

"Get down!" Lind told the administrator.

Ere looked at her incredulously. "What?"

Lind raised her voice so that the whole staff could hear and called out, "Everybody get down, take cover, whatever! And be quiet!" She turned to the goddess. "Trouble."

She dropped into a combat crouch, here senses alert for any sign of hostile activity. She wasn't disappointed.

Only a couple of minutes later, three cloaked and hooded figures entered into the NOSC carrying weapons. They looked surprised to see the control room apparently deserted, but after a second conferring in some sign language, they split up, moving towards the edges of the room to avoid being flanked.

Lind cursed under her breath. Three-to-one odds were not good, especially seeing as she had to also protect several noncombatants. She drew a small soul blade, her only weapon, from a concealed wrist sheath.

Much as she hated the consequences of Doublet, there was no choice left but to kill. She had no hope of sealing them all, and if they were able to take over Yggdrasil, they could kill many more gods or mortals from other realms. It would be an unmitigated disaster to let these _whoever-they-ares_ take over the control room.

Picking her first target, the intruder closest to the entrance, she crawled stealthily to where he was stationed near the door. He was obviously not an experienced warrior; he was standing next to a partition with an open bottom. In a lightning-fast move, she pulled his legs out from beneath him and dragged him under before clapping a hand over his mouth and slitting his throat.

His struggles stopped nearly immediately and he began to sublimate into the air. Lind was taken aback. She had always heard that when demons were killed, they turned to ash. But this mist was no ash.

Shrugging the feeling off, she looked for the other two. She didn't have long to wait. The first figure turned around. "Fox?" He waited. "Fox, where are you?"

He cursed under his breath and started to move back. Lind realized he thought "Fox" had gone back out the door. She quickly shifted her position to intercept him. As he walked past her position next to one of the terminal stations, she rose up behind him and pulled him backwards, slashing his throat.

The intruder crumpled, and like the other one sublimated into a mist.

A shout from the other side of the room told her the game was up. The third intruder leveled his energy rifle and fired off a burst, peppering the control room with burn marks and destroying equipment.

The intruder chuckled. "Well," he said. "And I thought I was the sneaky one." His eyes scanned the room from under his hood. "I must admit, I didn't expect to find a rat in here. Come out, come out, little valkyrie. This won't hurt much, I promise."

He fired off another burst. "Just save us all some trouble." He turned and kicked over a desk. "Aha!" he cried, lifting a goddess up by her dress. "What have we got here?" He placed his weapon to her head. "Come out or I shoot her!"

Lind swallowed. She had hoped to take him alive to find out who the intruders were, and so had snuck up from his side. But now her hand was being forced. She started to rise, but the blond goddess abruptly lashed out, spinning his head around and knocking the energy weapon away from her own.

It was all the distraction Lind needed. Springing up, she tackled the intruder, knocking the weapon out of his hands and taking him to the ground. He wrestled against her, but she was stronger and more skilled. In just a few seconds she had the intruder pinned to the ground at her mercy.

"Who are you?" she growled.

The figure shook in silent laughter. "You don't know?" he asked. "Damn."

She threw back his hood angrily. "I don't know who you think you are-"

The face of Loki leered back at her. "Hello there. Recognize me?"

Her shock radiated freely. "You're a god? Loki? _You?!_"

"I never miss a good party," the trickster god sighed. "But this one's not as fun as usual."

She hit him with a sealing spell. As it took effect, the god laughed one last time. "Change happens," he whispered. Then he was gone.

Lind stood back up and walked over to the blond goddess Loki had threatened. "Are you okay?" she asked.

The young goddess nodded. "He didn't hurt me."

Lind smiled. "What you did was very brave. As good as some valkyries would do, I sure."

The goddess smiled. "Thanks! I've always dreamed about someday becoming a valkyrie…"

Lind nodded. "Well, okay then. How about I put in a good word for you? What's your name?"

"Chrono."

Lind's smile tightened as she helped the goddess to her feet. "Well, Chrono, let's see about starting to figure out what the hell just happened here." Her expression turned dark. "I have the feeling things are just going to get worse."

* * *

A/N: Well, I hope you all enjoyed this one. I suddenly got a dollop of inspiration and pounded this one out ridiculously quickly. I think it makes up for any dragging previously.

As always, send me feedback!


	7. If

Disclaimer: Oh/Ah My Goddess does not belong to me.

* * *

"He's coming around."

Gwydion raised his head to the statement. On the gurney next to him, Shen was indeed stirring, his mind coming out of the haze it had wandered in.

Immediately after the _Peregrine_'s attack and Hild's disappearance, Gwydion had called in a medical evacuation as his strength failed him. He had used so much energy in deflecting the blast that by the time healers had arrived he was falling unconscious. The healers had rushed them onto a Medevac transport that took them back to the Great Ship and its onboard medical facilities.

Shen's injuries had been grievous indeed, but Rota had shielded him from the majority of the blast and his preexisting wounds had been stabilized enough for Hild to transport him as a bartering chip. Healers onboard the _Peregrine_ had been able to treat him effectively, and while the wounds were far from healed, his life was no longer in immediate danger.

Gwydion had been released from the healer's custody, having been subject to nothing more than severe exhaustion. He had been lucky. The healers had told him that if the kinetic projectile had hit only a meter closer to him, his shield would have broken.

He shook his head. There was only so long it could go on. One day he would make a withdrawal at the bank of luck and be denied, and then, well, that would be it. Hensara had assumed tactical command, and he was now out of the loop, so he went to visit the freed avenging angel and had taken up station at his bedside.

The rescued god opened his eyes tentatively, glancing around the ward as he began to panic and pull against his restraints. One of the healers rushed over and muttered a few words with his hand over Shen's head. He calmed, and his eyes shut again.

The healer gave Gwydion an apologetic look. "I'm sorry, but he's suffered so much trauma and mental damage that his mind is in a state of shock. His spirit has been damaged to the point that he would probably not recognize he has been rescued—his mind would attempt to place him in captivity, and he would resist us."

He muttered a few words before placing his hand over Shen's body and commanding, "_Angel come forth_."

Piercing Gaze turned his face away from them in contradiction to his name. The angel curled into the fetal position, his arms curled protectively around his head. The healer pointed out several red spots on the angel's body, including a large one on his back. "You see these wounds? They are as much spiritual as physical. Even though we've healed most of these, his spirit still reflects them."

The healer shook his head sadly. "Some of these wounds don't reflect physical damage, either. I can't imagine what was done to him down there. He was probably under constant torture, both mental and physical, for the duration of his time in Niflheim."

Gwydion shuddered to imagine the torment of Hild's tender affections. "Will he recover?"

"Heal from his wounds?" the healer asked. He muttered another word under his breath returning Shen's angel to his host, then turned to the officer. "Probably. Will he be the same?" he shook his head. "I sincerely doubt it."

They turned at the sound of a commotion near the entrance to the ward. Commander Hensara was walking quickly in, heading for them. Gwydion rose awkwardly, still weak.

Hensara shot him a look of disapproval, but her concern softened the expression. "Gwydion, you shouldn't be on your feet. Sit down."

He returned to his seat, looking up at her. "What's the situation, Commander?"

Hensara shook her head. "Not good at all. Hild transported herself out of the Roundtable, but we've lost communications with Combat Division headquarters and the rest of Heaven. To make matters worse, the hardlines back to Heaven have been closed and personal transport mediums are blocked by the emergency lockdown protocol."

"How can that be?" Gwydion asked incredulously. "Do you think there's been an invasion?"

Hensara shook her head. "I can't imagine a demonic invasion being so quick that we wouldn't receive some kind of distress signal from Heaven. I honestly have no idea what could cause something like this, but I do agree we can't rule out demonic attack."

"What could cause something like this, and not result in a distress signal or recall?" Gwydion murmured. Then it hit him: _Son of a BITCH!_ His face drained of color. "He's making his move." He stood up, his anger lending him strength.

Hensara looked at him like he was crazy. "_Who's_ making his move? What are you talking about?"

"It's Celestin," the avenging angel snapped. "He planned this all. Well, most of it."

Hensara's disbelief only mounted. "Celestin?" she echoed. "The councilor? Why would he do something like this? Please, Gwydion, start making sense."

"I'm so stupid!" he snarled. He met her eyes, and there was no mistaking the fire in his glance. "Celestin was the one who arranged for the initial probe. He must have collaborated with Hild to cause that energy spike in the Roundtable, knowing it would attract our attention. He would have also known that once it was ambushed, we would move our forces into the Roundtable."

"Almighty…" he shook his head, unable to believe how simple it had been. "He's on the council, he knew our readiness was anything from ideal, and that we'd have to short-staff Heaven's local defenses to mount a major operation. From there it would be a simple problem to take over Division headquarters and even Yggdrasil." He slammed his fist into a bulkhead. "He knew everything!"

"Why would he do all this?" Hensara asked, horrified but starting to believe.

"To advance his own agenda," Gwydion muttered darkly. "He told me—not straight out, but the signs were there—that he thought he could do a better job running Heaven than the Almighty." He shook his head. "I should have done something. I didn't want to accuse him, because that would have been a political debacle, but I should have done something, told someone."

Hensara pulled out her communicator and hit a button. "I'm recalling all units to the _Peregrine_. Whoever did this may have shut down the hardlines, but that won't stop us from heading back on this ship." Her eyes flashed. "The Roundtable can wait. We'll give these rebels something to worry about."

Gwydion nodded. "I hope we're not too late," he said. "But at least we have one advantage he won't consider."

"What's that?"

"Lind. Celestin dismissed her due to her one-winged angel, but I left her as attaché to the Yggdrasil control center." He let the slightest smile flicker on his face. "You know her—she's no ordinary valkyrie, and if Celestin failed to consider her in his plan, so much the worse for him."

888

Lind crouched outside of the Combat Division headquarters, wondering just how it was she had gotten into this mess. _The fighting was supposed to be in 512, not on our own damn doorstep!_

Two gods stood posted like sentries outside the entrance to the headquarters building. They definitely weren't Division, however, and Lind figured that they were part of whatever was going down. The only way the comms could have been jammed effectively was from the operations center, so it stood to reason that these mysterious foes must have taken it.

She ran the events of the past hour back through her head. After killing the two gods and sealing Loki, she had locked down the NOSC and the rest of the Yggdrasil building, telling the gods and goddesses there to be especially vigilant for intruders and arming Chrono and Ere with two of the attackers' weapons. Division headquarters was very close by, and it had been the scant work of a quarter of an hour to move stealthily into position near the entrance.

The question now was how to get in. She was pretty sure she could take out the two gods without much trouble, but if she did they might be able to get a message off alerting whoever was inside, and then she'd have no hope of getting in.

Abruptly, one of the gods frowned and raised a hand to his ear. He turned to his partner. "Trouble."

Lind's heart almost stopped beating. If she'd been discovered, it was all over.

"What is it?" the other god asked.

The first jerked a thumb back at the headquarters building. "Trapped rat. There's still a loyalist loose, and she's opening up some of the doors, maybe going to try to call for help." He shrugged. "They want me to come back in and help find her. You got the door?"

The other worked his should up and down. "Shouldn't be a problem. Don't take too long." The first god headed for the door and punched in a code, opening it, and walked inside. His partner turned back to cover the approach to the door and found a blue-haired goddess standing there.

He barely had time for a squeak.

Lind replaced the soul blade and rushed through the entrance just as it closed, her heart pounding. _That was too close. _All bets were off the table. She was running on luck now, luck and skill. Her mentor and her other teachers had taught her well. It was time to utilize that training.

The building's normal lights were out; dimmer battle lanterns provided emergency illumination. The reception antechamber was deserted; obviously the rebels had swept through the facility and killed or sealed everyone inside.

The first sentry was just ahead of her, punching a combination into one of the security doors set up throughout the complex. Lind paused, maintaining some distance between herself and the rogue god. If she could shadow him, she could possibly link up with this 'trapped rat'. Two was always better than one.

The god finished punching the code and rushed through the door, hurrying on to the next. Lind followed him, striving to quiet her footsteps and prevent any echoes. As they pressed on, taking the occasional turn, the sounds of weapons discharging and magical blasts became more pronounced. Finally, she turned a corner to find a pitched battle taking place.

Three gods were clustered next to the entrance to a long hallway, occasionally triggering blasts through the doorway, but seemingly cowed by the sheer volume of fire being returned through the entrance. Lind ducked back around the corner; there didn't appear to be any need to rush in quite yet.

The sentry ran up to the group. "What's the situation?" he demanded. "Who's firing?"

One of the other gods spared him a quick glance, then turned back to the door and sprayed another burst down the passageway. "We've got a valkyrie, or Hild knows what, _something_ down there trapped." He grunted. "She's not coming quietly."

The god's jaw dropped. "That's one valkyrie?"

Lind smiled grimly. It was time to show them what _two_ valkyries added up to. Turning around the corner, she leveled Loki's rifle and opened fire.

The first two gods fell before they realized they were being hit from behind. The third shouted a warning to his compatriots and started to turn before her shot took him in the side. The final rebel turned, bringing his weapon to bear on the new threat, but a flurry of shots came through the doorway and spun him around, sending him crashing to the floor.

Lind ducked back around the corner. There was no use in risking friendly fire. Sticking her head around the corner, she tentatively called out. "Who's there?"

A goddess's voice answered her. "Lind? Is that you?"

Lind recognized the voice and took a moment to place. She knew this valkyrie—one of Gwydion's former team members. "Yazlyn?" she called hesitantly.

"What's the situation?" Yazlyn's voice called.

"Four down," Lind replied. Seconds lengthened as she waited for a reply. She could almost imagine the thoughts going on in the other's head. Without some kind of countersign, there was no way for either of them to prove their identities without exposing themselves.

"Aww, to hell with this!" Yazlyn's voice was tinged with annoyance. "I'm coming out."

A moment later, a goddess with short blond hair walked through the doorway, carrying a rapier and a wicked looking directed-energy weapon. She turned to Lind, her eyes flaming. "So much for a peaceful day."

"Do you know how many of them there are?" Lind asked.

Yazlyn jerked her head towards the clothes and weapons lying on the floor. "Four less. Some are in the control center. Other than that, no idea."

"How'd you end up in the middle of this?"

The woman smiled tightly. "Got a transfer to work at Division Headquarters, helping maintain the system. Nice, no stress. And then shooting and crazy gods."

"Sounds like you've had fun day." Lind smiled. Gwydion had told her Yazlyn was firebrand.

Yazlyn barked a laugh. "Well, at least it broke the monotony." She glanced up at the officer. "Got a plan, ell-tee?"

Lind shook her head. "Working on it." She caught Yazlyn's annoyed look and replied with one of her own. "What? I'm making this up as I go."

888

Hild's anger was terrible to behold. Not only had she been forced out of the Roundtable, but now demons seemed to be dropping dead of their own accord. Over ten had fallen victim to the doublet system, and there had been no communication from Heaven.

Grabbing one of her attendants, she hurled the demon into a pillar in her immense throne room with a hefty burst of demonic power.

"Do you have any idea—" she hissed, "_any idea_—what it means to have someone to destroy your _carefully_ thought-out plans so casually?"

Terrified, her servants cowered in front of her, shaking their heads. With one last angry scream, she gathered all her rage into her and composed herself. She turned to her High Inquisitor, who had stood stoically next to her through her rampage.

"Somebody talked," she growled. "Someone betrayed us. Find him."

Metheus bowed his head. "It will be done, my lady," he replied.

"Find him—then you know what to do. I want his death to be so painful _I_ will have nightmares about it."

"Indeed." The demon lord turned to stalk out of the chamber.

Hild shook her head. She was being irrational. In all likelihood, there was no 'traitor.' Her people feared her too much for that. But in the meantime, her thirst for blood would have to be…sated.

Losing Shen had been a major blow. If she had been able to corrupt the avenging angel—as she had been _so close to doing_—she could have used him as her own personal avenger, the sword of the gods turned against them. It would have been delicious.

Hild turned back to the status display next to her throne. "Well, there's no use crying over spilt milk," she said nonchalantly. According to reports, Nidhogg had determined that the Heavenly ship was moving at flank speed out of the Roundtable, en route back to Heaven. _They must have caught on to Celestin's plan_.

In spite of her earlier defeat, Hild managed to smile. _You always have to have a backup plan_. She did have one, but she wondered if the councilor did. He had contacted her, requesting her help in his grand scheme. _Mutually beneficial for us both_, he had put it.

For all his willingness to use force to accomplish his goals—a trait she rather admired, actually—Celestin was still an idealistic fool. _Even if you managed to complete your coup, did you really expect me to go along idly with your plans?_ The god had had no idea of the awesome potential of the Roundtable, but after arranging his little diversion, she had learned about it. _No matter how the battle goes in Heaven, they will be left disoriented and weakened. I will be able to act with impunity._

She picked up a phone concealed in the armrest of her throne. "Move into the Roundtable," she ordered into the line. "Kill anyone who gets in your way." She smiled cruelly. "And prepare for Phase Three."

888

It was true. He didn't have a backup plan. _I've risked it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss_, Celestin thought. _I've done what is necessary, and it will just have to be enough._

It was if fate was conspiring against him. His tampering with the time system in an attempt to reverse Earth's time dilation had only hurt his position—the temporal Guardian program was now on the verge of crashing and destroying itself, and until he could get Belldandy to help him fix it and reverse the surge, he was stuck.

He had to bind her to him, and quickly. The seeds were planted, but they would need a final shock to germinate.

He walked through the park in Heaven, taking care to shield his anxiety. The park was such a special place, and a peaceful one. It was here that he had taught Belldandy to sing, to heal. It was here he had shared in her joys, comforted her in her sorrows. She had been a giant part of his life for longer than he cared to remember.

He didn't know when exactly he'd fallen in love with her, but somewhere along the way, it had happened. He wasn't ashamed of that at all. It had given him his purpose in a time when he'd despaired. She had become the reason for all his actions, his justification for his rebellion, his hope as he planned when everything had seemed so distant, and his solace when the universe seemed to work against him.

_I'm doing this—all of this—for her. So that she may live to see a perfect world. Even if I don't._

A small part of his mind laughed harshly at that. _So you're using her, even though you claim to love her? That's really a sign of true love._

_I'm doing this for her!_ he argued back._ But she can't know, she wouldn't understand—not yet! I have no choice but to use the tools I have been given._

_It's a pity you tend to break your tools when you use them._

_I have no other options. I will do what I must, and I stand ready to sacrifice everything and everyone I hold dear in order to achieve my goals. That's the only way it can be._ He grimaced. _If there was any other way, I'd use it. But there's not!_

_So far, you haven't damaged her permanently. Right now she's hurt and confused, but those feelings can and will pass. But in order to win her to your side you may well cause her to never be the same again. Are you ready to take that step?_

_It's just a risk I'll have to take. It's not just her fate at stake. Millions of lives hang in the balance here. I must do whatever necessary. Whatever necessary…_

He could sense Belldandy just ahead, hidden among the trees. "Belldandy, it's me," he called softly, stopping at the base of stately ash.

The goddess appeared in the branches and floated down into his arms. "Oh, Celestin," she cried, "I don't even know what to think anymore. I'm so confused." She looked up at him. "Is Urd okay? Did you fight? I really don't know why she was so angry…"

"Urd is fine," Celestin assured her. That was true enough; she wasn't in any danger sealed in a shell casing in his pocket. "She and I talked and settled our differences. I'm sure she'll tell you all about it when we go back to your home."

"We're going home?" she sniffed.

He paused. "…Not quite just yet," he allowed. "There's one more thing I have to show you, and then you will have finished your training. Then you will understand what it means to be a god in the service of Heaven."

"Really?" she asked, feeling hopeful despite her conflicting emotions. "I will understand why you've been showing me these terrible things?"

"Yes," he assured her softly. "You will understand that and much more." He glanced around, making sure they were not being observed. "Hold on tightly," he whispered. "I'm going to jump us out of here. He felt her grip tighten, and explored his way into nothingness.

888

Lind and Yazlyn exchanged glances. They had made their way through Division headquarters carefully, but they had been unopposed. If the rogue gods knew they were loose in the facility, they hadn't given any indication.

Now they were standing at the entrance to the operations center. Lind could use her override code to open it, but neither goddess was sure they wanted to do that.

_On one hand, we might take them completely by surprise. _Lind ran through the various scenarios in her head. _One the other, we could open that door to a wall of weapons._

Yazlyn broke the silence. "I guess we don't have much choice, do we."

Lind shook her head. "No, we don't." _We may well be the only gods who can raise the alarm. And the only way to do that is on the other side of the door._

Yazlyn nodded, smiling tightly. "Who said we had to like it? Go ahead and open that door.

Lind nodded and moved to the door control. "Yazlyn…I just want to say-"

The blond-haired valkyrie cut her off. "Save it. We're going to go in there and take back the ops center. Nothing less."

"You're right." Lind finished typing in the sequence and moved her finger over the 'enter' button. "Ready."

Yazlyn ran her hand along the door edges. Satisfied, she assumed a position next to the door, weapon at the ready. "Do it."

Lind hit the button.

The doors opened whisper quiet.

With a shout part distraction, and part pure desperation, the two valkyries stormed through the funnel into the operations center.

And stopped dead as a series of clicks they had heard almost every day of their professional lives greeted them. The sound of safety catches being released.

Morgan turned to greet them and smiled. "Welcome, my dear valkyries," she said as two gods relieved them of their weaponry. The fairy indicated the tactical display. "Now that you've saved us the trouble of having to hunt you down, perhaps you would care to join us as we watch destiny unfold."

Lind realized with a sinking feeling that things couldn't get much worse. _I'm sorry, sensei. I wasn't able to stop them. _

"The world as we know it is about the change," Morgan intoned solemnly. "The days of the rule of gods, who care nothing for the fate of 'lesser creatures', have come to an end. Today the world of our future, a world where the wrongs of the past will be righted—this world will be born."

* * *

A/N

A note on some slang: "ell-tee" is a slang abbreviation for lieutenant. "Funnel" comes from the term "bullet funnel", i.e. the doorway during room clearing. Also, in regards to the evacuation off Tav One, its debatable whether the proper term would be "casevac" or "medevac". The terms do have subtle differences. I chose medevac because it is generally more well-known.

We're moving swiftly to a conclusion. Hope you all are liking it! As always, reviews/feedback appreciated.


	8. The Die is Cast

This is the new, good Chapter Eight. Please give it a spin.

Ah! My Goddess/Oh My Goddess does not belong to me.

* * *

"I believe it is the duty of each of us to act as if the fate of the world depended on him. Admittedly, one man by himself cannot do the job. However, one man _can_ make a difference."

-Adm. Hyman G. Rickover

* * *

Chaos threatened to overwhelm the bridge on the _Peregrine_. Voices rose in rapid crescendos as orders were barked across the crowded control room: "Bring us about on the dimensional plane, course eight four gamma decimal two!" "Off'sa'deck, Maneuvering answers all ahead flank!" "Sir! Request permission to shift attitude manipulation outboard!"

Lights flashed and alarms wailed. As the Great Ship came about, the hull began to creak and shudder under the titanic stresses produced by the vessel's massive thrusters. She was gunning for all she was worth, lining up for transit back to the heavenly realm.

Gwydion and Hensara stood at the back of the bridge, doing their best to keep out of the way of the feverish activity enfolding in front of them.

"Seven hours," the avenging angel muttered. "Too slow." _If Celestin has gone rogue, we may return to a hostile realm…_

"Need brooks no delay," Hensara agreed, "but late is better than never." She placed a hand on Gwydion's shoulder. "We'll have our chance. Dealing with a rebellion won't be simple or easy, but our job seldom is."

"I want to think that we'll be able to defeat him and whatever forces he's arranged against our return," Gwydion replied. "But without knowing just what he's been able to accomplish in our absence, we're essentially rushing in blind." He sighed. "That's what worries me the most."

To his surprise, the Commander smiled. "Well, we do have seven hours to plan," Hensara pointed out. "If the top valkyries in Heaven can't figure out contingency plans to face a rogue god, then we might as well send our resignations to the Almighty right now."

In spite of himself, the avenging angel found a smile tugging at his lips. "I suppose you're right."

888

Lind kept her expression as close to impassive as she could as she surveyed the operations center. Morgan, the fairy, was so thoroughly wrapped up her 'new world' that Lind had begun to seriously doubt her mental state. _On the other hand, one step down from insanity is obsession. Morgan would give anything to see this new world come about. Is there any way I can use that?_

Beside her, Yazlyn didn't bother to conceal her anger and frustration. Under the guard of four of Morgan's commandos, the two valkyries were unable to act without inviting swift and sure death. Lind knew that with conditions being as desperate as they were, that might not stop the other valkyrie from attacking in a last show of defiance. She saw the other goddess's eyes fixate slightly on one of the attackers and shook her head curtly. _Now is not the time._

Gwydion had taught her that rushing foolhardily into any task was generally a mistake. She could almost hear her mentor chiding her in her head. _Bide your time. Wait for the opportunity—it will come. Then spring into action, holding nothing back._

She killed the tiniest of smiles before it could blossom. _And work the situation to your advantage. There's more than one way to win a battle._

Her mind began to examine her options. _Tactics. Make your enemy uncomfortable. Put them under pressure. It will increase the likelihood of them making a mistake._ She ran that thought through her mind several times. Morgan had promised that her new world was on the brink of creation, yet to this point nothing noticeable had occurred. She had seen several of the rebel gods take surreptitious glances at chronometers. Those glances were now increasing in frequency.

"Morgan," she called out to the fairy. "What is this world you promise?"

She almost received the butt end of one of the guards' polearms in her abdomen for speaking out of line, but the fairy stopped him with a hand motion. She turned and looked directly into Lind's eyes. "Do you know what it means to have nothing to lose, Lind?"

That actually took her aback for a moment. She started to reply in the affirmative, but stopped short. "I suppose I don't, no."

"I do." Morgan grimaced as if in pain. "I've known what it feels like for over seven hundred years now." She lowered her eyes. "Every time I resigned myself to sleep, I wished for the pain to somehow disappear, even at the cost of my own life. How sweet it would have been to fall into even eternal nothingness, so that my heart would no longer be torn." Her eyes rose again, dancing with anger and manic intensity. "And every time I woke, the pain returned. There was no hope left, no reason for living. And yet I was not permitted the escape of death, unless I consigned my soul to the fires of Hell. And even there the pain would not fade."

"My happiness, my purpose in life was stolen from me that day seven hundred years ago. Avalon received us not, but we were instead consigned to the doom of the gods. And they have little mercy towards those beneath them." The fairy's eyes flashed with pure hatred. "They took from me all that I held dear, and acted as if was simple tragedy, an act of unkind fate or impurity within my own feelings." She snorted derisively. "As if they were the beacons of purity they claimed to be!"

Morgan set her hard gaze on Lind. "You are young, and do not fully understand what it means, this system of Heaven—what it condones. By swearing allegiance to it, you pledge yourself to a regime that finds it acceptable to stand by and watch as all manner of lesser beings suffer, whether from the agony of forsaken love or the ravages of greed, hatred, and despair. You have stood up to be counted with the legion of indifference, the bureaucracy of casual cruelty."

"No more. No more will the victims of the gods be silenced. As we speak, the followers of the true path, the path of mercy, work to bring about what is necessary. We will not sit silently by as another catastrophe is allowed to pass unnoticed." The fairy indicated the status board. "Once we have established control over the Yggdrasil mainframe, we will remake Creation. We will eliminate sorrow, uncertainty, violence, hatred, and every vice that continues to haunt this universe."

"And I will be free of my shackles." The fairy turned away to face the status board. "I no longer have any fear—except failure. That is what it means to have nothing to lose."

"That's for sure," Yazlyn muttered. "You've already lost your mind."

With a motion from the fairy, one of the gods reversed his grip on his energy rifle and swung the stock viciously into her stomach. Yazlyn grunted, gritting her teeth, and collapsed to her knees on the metal floor.

"Don't mistake my goals with my means," Morgan warned them. "We still live in an imperfect world." The fairy turned around. "Celestin said that my greatest flaw was my impulsiveness. I'm not a subtle or patient being. I can and will order you tortured or killed if you continue to test me."

Lind shuddered involuntarily. Yazlyn was right. Morgan le Fay knew exactly what her actions would lead to—and didn't give a damn about the consequences so long as she got what she wanted.

888

"At this point in our theorizing, we consider a Class-Seven scenario most likely," Hensara explained to the assembled valkyries. "Hostiles are almost certainly present within Heaven, and may have seized control of the Yggdrasil control center. Upon reversion to the sidereal plane, we may very well find ourselves subject to interference from the system." She paused. "Also, it is unlikely but possible that Celestin's forces have seized control of a capital warship or Heaven's defense grid. We may appear over Heaven to find ourselves under hostile fire from the get-go."

The conference room was packed with combat personnel: Gatekeepers, Avenging Angels, Spartans, and members of the ship's complement. Hensara had pulled out all the stops, and after a frantic brainstorming session with Gwydion, the _Peregrine_'s captain, and a half-dozen other senior specialists she had called the combat complement together to explain their conclusions.

One of the _Peregrine_'s officers raised a hand. "Commander, under your Class-Seven rules of engagement, do you plan on using the _Peregrine_'s weaponry in an offensive role?"

A low murmur swept through the assembled crowd. The EM acceleration weapons onboard the Great Ship were optimized for an interdiction role—aerial bombardment. However, their use on ground targets in the heavenly realm would almost inevitably lead to massive collateral damage.

Hensara shook her head. "I do not intend to use the ship's weapons in an offensive role. The Class-Seven ROE in effect is as follows: You will be weapons-free on armed hostiles and unauthorized personnel within highly sensitive areas." The commander held up a hand in warning. "I'm trusting you to follow your training and minimize noncombatant casualties. The bottom line, though, is that I don't want you to risk your lives unnecessarily. It's our job to secure Heaven from these insurgents. Make no mistake, people: this isn't going to be easy or clean. We'll be fighting down in the dirt, surrounded by those we've sworn to protect. It may be very bloody. But we don't have a choice."

She looked out over the crowd. "Any more questions at this time? No?" She nodded to Gwydion. "Major, brief the plan."

Gwydion nodded and cleared his throat. "Due to the lack of available real-time intelligence on the current situation in Heaven, we've come up with a very fluid strategy that we hope will be conducive to alteration. We've divided up the combat complement into a set of high-mobility quick reaction forces." Behind the avenging angel, a holographic tactical display sprang into existence. "Commander Hensara will lead QRF Omega. Omega will be unattached to any particular objective, but rather serve as a stopgap for any situation we haven't anticipated. I will lead QRF Theta, detailed to 1CD Headquarters, and Captain Jabrel will take QRF Delta to the NOSC and secure the Yggdrasil facility. Sergeant-Major Izhak will have control of the reserve QRF Gimel, and Chief Gunner's Mate Yakez will handle ship's security."

He turned to the display. "Upon reversion to the 3-dimensional plane over Heaven, QRFs Theta and Delta will deploy immediately to their objectives and Gimel will assume high guard over the city. Once 1CD Headquarters and the NOSC have been successfully secured, our focus shifts to locating and neutralizing Councilor Celestin. His capture is desireable, but once again, don't risk your lives simply to bring him back."

Gwydion switched off the display with the touch of a button. "On the briefing cards you've been given you'll find your assignments. The _Peregrine _will serve as the mission's tactical control center until we have secured Division HQ and brought our defensive systems back online. Commander Hensara will retain overall operational command until such time as QRF Omega is deployed. In the absence of the Commander, command defaults onto myself and then Captain Jabrel."

The avenging angel looked over the crowd. "Be ready for last-minute changes. The tactical situation may easily differ wildly from anything we've come up with, so you'll have to be on your toes. After this brief is concluded, report to your assigned stations—your individual team leaders will give you more detailed plans."

Gwydion looked to Hensara for any last words and received a curt head shake. "Very well." He nodded to one of the ship's crew, who flipped a switch. The air was rent by a loud wail.

"Get to your stations!" he shouted over the noise. "One hour to reversion!"

888

Red. The first thing she noticed was the red: the pale red sky and the dull crimson of the ground, like dried blood. Belldandy's world coalesced into being, and she found herself suspended over a barren wasteland.

The land beneath her was rocky and desolate, its surface cracked and rent by dry canyons and bleak valleys. Somber towers of stone rose up from the floor, and the air was dry and filled with fine particles of rust-colored dust that stained her goddess's robes. A chill seemed to hang over the whole place, as if everything warm and appealing about a realm was absent from this place. There was also a feeling of loss, as if there was something fundamentally missing from this place.

Life—that was it. This place contained no life. No plants grew in the rocky soil far below. No birds winged in the air. No fish swam in the dry riverbeds; no mammals roamed the desolate plains; no gods laughed in the harmony of existence.

She shivered involuntarily. There was only one place she knew of that was like this—

"No," Celestin replied to unspoken thought. "This isn't Hell, Belldandy, at least in a literal sense. Not even Hild comes here, nor did she have a hand in its creation." He closed his eyes. "Pray you never have to descend into the depths of Niflheim, Belldandy, for that is a place utterly without recompense." He opened his eyes again and turned to her. "But there is more than one personal Hell in Creation."

Turning from her, he let his gaze fall on an object to her right, down beneath the pearl-white platform he had conjured to support the two of them. "Please, look over there, Belldandy."

Obligingly, she turned and did a double take. On the plain below her stood an obelisk that seemed grotesquely out of place. Carved from the purest white marble was set a gateway with an opening reminiscent of an angel's profile. The gateway seemed to lead to nowhere, and at any rate it would be just as easy to walk around the obelisk as pass through it.

"What is it?" Belldandy asked, fascinated and yet hesitant at the same time.

"Are you familiar with the legend of the Judgment Gate?" Celestin asked quietly. His eyes were fixed on the monument, and his expression was hard.

"Yes," Belldandy answered breathlessly—it was a sad story, but the Judgment Gate was just that—a legend from more somber times long ago. "So I imagine that must be a model replica of it?"

"That's no model you're looking at." Her mentor kept his tone even. "It's real."

He raised a hand towards the monument, palm outwards. Belldandy turned to watch as a glowing ball formed in front of Celestin's hand as he used his power. Far below them, in front of the gate, two grainy figures materialized in front of the Gate. One of them she recognized—Celestin's friend Morgan le Fay. She realized with a flash that she was watching some kind of holographic recording emanating from the device Celestin had conjured.

Her mentor narrated. "When someone from one world falls in love with a person living in another world, they come here to test that love." Below them, the Morgan and the other figure—her lover—faced and joined hands. They exchanged silent words, then turned to face the gateway.

"The two must pass through the gate together. If there is any doubt or deception in their hearts, the two will be torn apart—and they will never meet again. If there is no disloyalty, they receive the gods' blessings."

Belldandy remained silent, tendrils of dread starting to encircle her heart. Something was very wrong with this picture. She wanted to look to Celestin for reassurance, but could not take her eyes from the scene below.

"However, of those who have entered the Judgment Gate, none have made it through safely."

The young goddess gasped, horrified at that revelation and the implications it suggested for the scene below. Mortified, she turned to her mentor, but he kept his gaze fixed on the lovers' plight and continued his explanation.

"The gate's function of testing lovers was intended to prevent harmony from being achieved among the worlds."

Belldandy's eyes were inextricably drawn back to the unfolding tragedy at the Gate. Even though she knew there could be but one conclusion, she struggled to hang onto even the slightest thread of hope that Celestin's words were in error. As the continued to play out, the two lovers turned and strode forward, passing through the angel-shaped gateway resolutely.

But only one emerged. Morgan le Fay opened her eyes to find her hand empty and her lover gone, whisked away by the power of the gods into the unknown. In sudden shock and denial, she began to turn her head this way and that, searching around the Gate to see if her lover was but misplaced. But it was to no avail.

"The gods have employed many methods of testing, ever since the times of prehistoric man. The system created by the divine ones segregates every single person into his living assignment in the world, determines his role, and controls it." With a motion of his hand, Celestin banished the playback device and the weeping figure at the Gate dissolved back into static. With his other hand, he drew the speechless Belldandy in close to him to comfort her.

"The gods pretend that they are blind to the suffering of the unfortunate ones who come to test, and only the ones who are chosen may pass through the portal." For the first time, Celestin's voice changed. Suppressed emotions tugged on his sophisticated tone, and Belldandy realized just how deep her mentor's feelings were about the terrible Gate. "The melancholy voices of those born into this world have pierced the depths my heart. I feel the need to _do_ something for them, without discriminating against anyone."

Her mentor's voice turned harsh. "But I'd have to create a completely new and different system in order to do that!" Abruptly, he raised his free hand towards the gate. Around the obelisk, a massive magical force field sprang into being and began to draw inwards, collapsing on itself and the Gate held inside. Supernatural lightning lit up the inside of the force field as the magical gateway resisted its destruction. Flashes of energy and mystical power gave the impression of a massive fireworks display contained with a bubble as elemental forces clashed against one another for dominance.

"This was manufactured by the gods!" Celestin thundered, straining to overcome the Gate's power. "I cannot permit this abomination to remain in existence any longer!" With a supreme effort, he clenched his outstretched hand into a fist, overcoming the heavenly resistance.

With a surge of power, the force field collapsed to a pinprick of matter and energy, destroying everything inside it. Then the forces became too much for Celestin to control, and the tiny point erupted into a titanic explosion, vomiting terajoules of energy and sending a massive shockwave hurtling outward. Celestin released the force field and shunted his power into creating another to shield them from the explosion's power, but was only barely able to contain the energies he had released. Dust and soot enveloped them, and visibility dropped to mere inches.

Celestin grunted with effort, and used his power to clear away the debris. In front of them, rising high above the barren earth was a massive golden mushroom cloud, indicative of the violent thermonuclear explosion produced by the collapse of the Gate as the collapsing matter underwent nuclear fusion. It was like staring into the raging core of a young star.

"This is an expression of my will against the present establishment in Heaven," Celestin bit out angrily. Then a cloud passed before them and Belldandy was whisked away into another dimension of space and time.

888

There was no doubt of the agitation now, Lind realized. The surreptitious glances at chronometers had become both open and continuous, and their guards were shifting uneasily. Something had gone wrong with their plan. At the control panel, Morgan paced in thinly veiled agitation. Lind felt hope rise in her again. Her opportunity was coming-she was almost sure of it. Both she and Yazlyn had been bound, but she felt confident she could break her makeshift bonds fairly easily. Morgan had had them guarded closely, but had not sealed them so that they might witness her triumph.

_Not exactly what I'd call sound reasoning_, Lind thought, _but I'm certainly not complaining_. Yazlyn had picked up on the increasing desperation of the rebels as well, and a series of minute eye motions had brought the two valkyries into agreement. _Now it's just a matter of time._

Morgan glanced at the status board again. "Still no communication from Loki," she muttered. "That bastard had better hold up his end of the bargain or I'll kill him myself. If he's holding out on us…"

One of their guards turned to the fairy. "Could he have run into trouble?" he rumbled.

Morgan shook her head. "Where would he run into trouble? We've pacified the city, prevented outside access to the heavenly realm, and we've captured or killed the remaining valkyries who could have opposed us." Her hands tightened into fists. "No, that damn trickster god is having his fun at our expense." She slammed a fist down on the console. "Damn him! He could ruin everything!"

Lind had to hold back a smile at Morgan's comments. _Impulsive? Yes. Irrational? Oh, yeah. Now we've just got to play our cards right._ Her whole body began to tense, ready to spring into action given the right chance.

Spontaneously, Morgan reached over to another console and began typing in a series of commands.

The guard who had spoken turned in alarm. "Morgan! What are you doing! We're not ready—not without Yggdrasil secured and Celestin's signal!"

"Quiet," the fairy replied, not bothering to turn around. "I'm not executing the plan, fool! I'm opening a comm link to Yggdrasil so I can talk to that bastard Loki. He needs a reminder of who's in charge."

"Morgan…" the rebel god warned, but it was too late. Morgan stabbed down on the link control, activating it.

To all the rebels' surprise, a black-haired goddess appeared on the central display screen. Morgan was taken aback. "Who are you?" she asked, astonished.

Ere shook her head. "Goddess second class Ere, Yggdrasil system operator. However, I think the better question is, who are_ you_?"

Her eyes surveyed the room, widening when they spotted Lind and Yazlyn under guard. She sucked in a deep breath. "Actually, I think I now have a pretty good idea who you are. Never mind…"

Morgan gaped. "What? What are you saying?"

Ere turned and nodded to a figure off-screen. "Do it." She turned back to the screen. "After Lind took out Loki and his fighters and left, I figured it was only a matter of time before I heard from either her, or the people who had sent him. I took the liberty of making a few preparations just in case it was you."

One of the techs in the operations center glanced at his panel in alarm. "Morgan! They're uploading some kind of program onto the Division system via that link!"

"Shut down the link!"

"I can't!" The tech replied. "They don't respond! The controls don't respond!"

The full horror of her situation sunk in to Morgan. "Bypass the computer system! Shut off the link manually!"

"Too late!" the tech shouted. All around the room, control systems came to life of their own volition, and various displays popped into existence.

Ere continued calmly. "You shouldn't have broken your communications jamming—especially the connection to Yggdrasil." She smiled. "We _do_ control reality here."

Without warning, the control room went suddenly and inexplicably pitch black as every light was extinguished simultaneously. And Lind knew it that it was time to act.

A flex of combat-trained muscles and a tiny bit of practical magic broke her bonds, freeing her hands. She heard a grunt from next to her as Yazlyn broke free as well. While neither of them could see the guards, their combat instincts, honed by long training, gave them each a picture in their minds' eyes of the location of the rebels.

Moving forward, Lind swept a foot through a guard's legs, then used her forward momentum to drive them both to the ground, narrowly avoiding the other guard's wild polearm swing. In the absolute darkness, she and the rebel god grappled on the floor, both seeking dominance. But she was the stronger and quicker of the two, and she had surprise on her side. With a moment of effort she had wrenched away his soul blade and knocked him unconscious.

Twisting, she scythed her legs around in an arc, undercutting the second god's legs and dropping him to the floor. Behind her, Lind heard soft grunts of effort and concentration as Yazlyn dueled with her opponent. _Nothing I can about that right now._

Working by instinct and feel, she found her second opponent and grappled him, making sure she knew where his polearm was so she could control it. Once she got inside the weapon's arc, she could negate it, and she moved to do so, pinning the axe-like weapon across the insurgent's chest with her body. Snarling, she reversed her grip on the knife and smashed the pommel into the god's head, knocking him senseless.

Dropping the small blade, she scooped up her enemy's polearm and rose into a balanced combat crouch. Abruptly, the room lit up with a series of rapid flashes. Lind whirled to find Yazlyn struggling with one of her guards, his finger clamped down on the trigger of his energy weapon even as she shoved it away. Their movements appeared jerky and ungraceful in the strobe effect from the weapon's discharges.

With a grunt and a sickening _thud_, Yazlyn ended the issue with a clenched fish blow to the god's face and wrenched the weapon from his lifeless fingers. With a flicker the lights started to come back on, and the two valkyries rose, targeting the remaining handful of commandos who went for their weapons. Lind channeled her magical abilities through the polearm while Yazlyn sighted down her captured weapon.

They split the control room in half, scanning their fields of fire and unleashing torrents of coherent energy on any of the rebels who went for their own weapons. Within seconds, it was all over.

"Clear right!" Lind announced.

"One standing," Yazlyn informed her. Lind turned. To her surprise, Morgan had barely moved at all from the panel she had been standing at, her face a mask of shock and horror. She was unarmed

"Well, well," Yazlyn announced. "The best laid plans of fairies and gods…"

Morgan's features twisted in rage. She screamed, a raw and bitter expulsion of anger and frustration.

"Surrender," Lind ordered. "I'm not feeling very generous right now."

"Never," the fairy replied. "I have nothing to lose! Let the skies fall! Let the earth gape! But be sure that I will never surrender until my hopes are secured—"

Yazlyn released the sealing spell she had been preparing. It struck Morgan le Fay dead center in her chest, knocking her backwards and silencing her instantly. The valkyrie shook her head disgustedly. "Waste of a conversation…"

Lind ran forward, vaulting over a console to examine the tactical display. "Yazlyn! Can you reverse whatever they've locked out? We've got to contact the Commander and Gwydion!"

"Already taken care of," Ere's voice informed them. With a flicker, the central monitor came back to life, framing the Yggdrasil administrator. "We weren't just standing around here, you know."

Lind let out a deep breath. "Thank the Almighty for someone like you, Ere! That was perfect timing with the lights."

The administration goddess smiled. "Glad to hear it. I thought you could probably make the most out of the right opportunity." She turned back to her console. "I can start removing their lockdown functions from here. Morgan used a Council override to shut down the hardlines and personal transit mediums as well as disrupt communications. I've restored communications, but you'll need to help us with the lockout." The goddess paused. "There's something else as well. I've found Celestin, and well, it's not good. I'll send you the details."

"Yazlyn, do what you can," Lind ordered as Ere's file popped onto the screen. "Ere, I need to open up a comm with the Great Ship _Peregrine_."

888

Gwydion rushed up two flights of narrow stairs on the Great Ship and entered the communications blister. Hensara was already there, linked in conference with Lind and another goddess he didn't recognize.

"What happened?" he asked. "Were we able to break through the jamming?"

Hensara shook her head. "The situation in somewhat complex, but the good news is that both Yggdrasil and Division Headquarters remain under loyalist control. But there's bad news."

The goddess he didn't know spoke up. "Approximately ten minutes ago, we detected a massive pulse of energy from the realm containing the Judgment Gate. Since then we have determined that the Gate has been obliterated. Our tracking data indicates that Councilor Celestin was present during the Gate's destruction, and may have been responsible for the incident. Since then, Celestin has phased back into the heavenly realm."

The goddess's face tightened. "To make matters worse, he isn't alone. Accompanying his signal is that of Belldandy, the daughter of the Almighty and Celestin's pupil."

"_Belldandy_?" Gwydion echoed in disbelief. "She can't be going along with him. I've read her writing; this isn't her way at all." He shook his head. "The daughter of the Almighty is assisting Celestin, who trying to overthrow her father?"

Hensara turned to him. "We don't know that at all. It is just as likely that she is an unknowing or unwilling dupe of Celestin as it is that she is actively assisting him. He _is_ her mentor, and such authority figures hold great sway over their charges."

Gwydion nodded. _Somebody made one hell of a mistake then_. "How are we going to respond?"

Hensara turned to the goddess. "Ere, how dire is this news?"

"I'm afraid it's very serious." Ere frowned. "If Celestin is able to manipulate one of Norns, he may not even need direct access to Yggdrasil in order to affect the system."

Hensara nodded. "Very well." She turned to Gwydion. "I'm going to take QRF Omega and neutralize Celestin upon our reversion in just over five minutes. Take tactical control and secure the city. And stand by to send reinforcements if this goes south."

888

With a start, Belldandy found herself back in Heaven, standing on a platform suspended in the sky.

"I want you to accompany me." Celestin was speaking to her, standing in front of her a few steps up a long, straight staircase that ascended into the clouds. His expression had returned to normal; his voice was no longer choked with sadness and fury. He looked every bit the model instructor and model god she had thought him to be.

But Belldandy couldn't shake the feeling that something was very, very wrong. Just minutes ago, it seemed, she had watched as her instructor had denounced Heaven and the gods and destroyed the sacred Judgment Gate without hesitation. She felt scared in the presence of the person to whom she had always looked for comfort. She felt desperately unsure of herself, unable to think clearly or understand just what she was witnessing.

Her carefully constructed world had come crashing down around her in less time than it took to go from light to dark.

Celestin appealed to her again. "With you help, Belldandy, I know the wishes of the weak are sure to be fulfilled at long last."

His appeal tugged at her heartstrings. She knew firsthand what suffering was. She had seen it often in her job with the Goddess Relief Office , and knew her sacred duty was to help others. There was nothing like the satisfaction of watching a broken man cry tears of joy, or seeing a despondent child's face light up with a smile and a laugh. But she still couldn't shake the feeling that something was horribly wrong with Celestin's words.

"All people will be treated equally," he continued, his expression turning earnest as he strove to gain her support. "I want to offer as much assistance as I can to those who are suffering."

His words had no visible effect on the young goddess. Belldandy simply continued to stare up at him, confusion clouding her blue eyes.

888

Commander Hensara paced in front of her half-dozen strong team next to the opening of the _Peregrine_'s assault bay. "The primary target is Councilor Celestin. We've pinpointed his location. Celestin is a very powerful god, as befitting his status on the Council." She struggled to be heard in the noisy bay amongst the sounds of the crew preparing for reversion. "He is certainly dangerous, and should be treated with extreme caution. We'll try to capture him, but if he resists, it's not worth any of us getting hit."

"Now here's the kicker," she announced. "The goddess Belldandy is currently with the primary target. Belldandy is believed to be a noncombatant, and do not engage her unless she attacks. Even so, remember that she is the Almighty's daughter and a high value individual. We don't want to kill her, so watch your shots. Everybody got that? Then lock and load!"

The team members all readied partisans and Hensara took her place at the head of the line. With a lurch, the _Peregrine_ snapped back into the sidereal plane above the heavenly realm. As soon the ship stabilized, the team was rushing for the open bay exit. In a matter of seconds, they were gone.

Gwydion saw the launch of the QRF on the Great Ship's tactical display. "Good luck, and Godspeed," he whispered as the other teams launched to assume their stations.

888

Celestin felt them before he saw them. _So Morgan failed_. His heart was heavy with regret more than frustration. Hensara and her thrice-cursed combat valkyries had somehow been able to overcome his own forces, and now they were coming for him.

_You still have a chance of succeeding,_ he reminded himself. _But now everything rests on Belldandy. She will be our salvation, or our downfall. _

Around him a half-dozen of Heaven's avengers moved into a high encircling formation and extended their golden partisans. There was little chance he could fight off six of the valkyries, but even if he could, that wouldn't achieve the result he needed. _You're going to have to play this one very close…_

Below him, Belldandy watched in fascinated horror as the valkyries prepared to attack. Surely this couldn't be happening. She looked to Celestin for a word, a gesture, _anything_. But her mentor simply stood there, inscrutable.

888

Hensara took one last glance over the situation. Her team was in place, ready to seal Celestin, or kill him. The rogue god had still not lifted a finger, and Belldandy hadn't taken any action.

_Good. Maybe this won't be the nightmare I feared._ She nodded to the other team members, then directed her words to the rogue councilor: "Surrender and submit to sealing!"

When there was no response, she knew it was time. "Weapons free!"

888

Belldandy's mouth dropped open in abject disbelief as the first frenzied tendrils of electricity reached down and surrounded her mentor. Celestin's body stiffened as he was bathed in blue lightning, and he began to scream in pure pain and suffering.

Her mouth opened, but no sound emerged. _No. _She shook her head as if to deny the reality before her. _No. _

Inside her mind, ration thought began to lose the battle to furious emotion as the vision of her most trusted guardian being tortured before her eyes injected itself into her brain. Belldandy felt a desperate anger grow inside her as her power coursed through every fiber of her being.

888

Hensara grunted and gritted her teeth, straining with all her might against the Councilor's furious counterattack. He certainly didn't plan on going quietly, but she knew his power couldn't hold out. _Just a little longer. A little longer and it will be all over. _

888

Celestin's back arched as his scream transformed into a high-pitched wail of sheer agony, and at that instant something infinitely hot and powerful rose up inside Belldandy. Her surging emotions overcame her last holdout of logical thought in a massive avalanche of power.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" She screamed as her eyes closed, and her soul was released in all its power. Holy Bell burst forth from the depths of her spirit as an unimaginably powerful wave of unfocused, desperate energy surged outward, tearing the clouds asunder and slamming into Celestin's attackers with incredible force.

888

Hensara's attack collapsed under the sudden, deadly onslaught of Belldandy's power. In desperation she threw up a shield, but the blast shredded it like so much paper. She felt the tide of energy envelop her, caressing her body even as it destroyed it.

"Gwydion…"she whispered into the roiling storm.

Then she was gone.

888

In the operations center, Lind had her eyes glued to the tactical display as Hensara's force moved in Celestin. Everything seemed to be going according to plan.

Then the display chimed with the detection of a massive power spike. "Oh, bad. Oh, bad."

She grabbed the communicator. "Gwydion! Hensara's in trouble!"

Aboard the _Peregrine_, the avenging angel's blood ran cold. "Almighty," he whispered, then grabbed for a comm. "Gimel! Move in! And seal secondary target immediately!"

888

As quickly as Belldandy lost control of her tortured emotions, she regained logical thought as her power wave subsided. Her power spent in the explosion of pure anger and grief, she suddenly felt empty, devoid of all that had just driven her to attack.

As the first heavenly feathers floated down onto the dais, she realized what she had done, and the sorrow of her own action flooded into her. She collapsed into tears.

Celestin nodded. It was done. His display of agony had been the turning point, the key that had opened Belldandy to him and placed her irrevocably on her side while eliminating his attackers. She had no choice now but to follow him. Walking slowly, he approached his sobbing pupil.

"Please, Belldandy—come." He extended his hand to her. "There are no options left to you, so come—let us go now."

Belldandy looked up at him, trying to respond, explain, atone for her deeds. But before she could speak a word, a sealing force field rose up from the dais and enveloped her.

Celestin was pushed backwards by the force of Izhak's sealing spell. He had not expected reinforcements so quickly. _No! This cannot be happening. I will not allow it!_

He struggled forward even as another sealing spell hit him. With a force of will, he threw it aside and staggered towards his goddess. _We are too close to success for this to happen!_ "Belldandy!"

But it was to no avail. The Sergeant-Major's reserve team swooped down upon him, overcoming him with power that he was unable to fend off without Belldandy's help. More and more valkyries surrounded the struggling councilor as he was dragged skyward against his will.

Still crying, lost, hurt, and confused, Belldandy remained behind, her powers sealed as she watched the man she loved disappear into the sky. And for the first time in a long time, she felt truly alone, and surrendered herself into darkness.

888

Gwydion slammed his fist down on the plot. "Damn it!" he cried. "Why? Why did this have to happen?" They had won, but at far too high a cost. Far too high a cost.

He noticed the room had become very quiet. Looking up, he saw all the other battle staff looking at him.

One of the aides spoke up. "Sir, in the absence of the regimental commanders, you're the highest ranking officer present, placing you in temporary command of the Combat Division."

He passed his gaze across the faces of the battle staff. All these gods were looking to him for the answers, and he didn't have any. He didn't know what to do. He had a captured rogue councilor who had started an insurrection in Heaven, and while they mopped up Hild was no doubt moving into the Roundtable in order to take advantage of its strategic usefulness.

He felt the full burden of the protection of Heaven fall on his shoulders, and realized just what a crushing weight it was.

The aide looked at him imploringly. "Sir, what are your orders?"

* * *

A/N. This is by far my longest chapter, but I also think it's one of the best. Of course, be sure to let me know how it is.

-taskforce


	9. Interlude: Convoy

This is not a full chapter of Roots. It is an interlude that explores just what is happening on the Earth as Celestin's rebellion proceeds.

Content warning: This chapter contains racial slurs. They are used to provide historic realism.

Ah! My Goddess/ Oh My Goddess! does not belong to me.

* * *

24 June 1944

The _USS Grouper_ glided through the depths, her crew silent as the electric engines which pushed her slowly through the water. One hundred and fifty feet above their heads, the sky above the sea was turning dark as the sun set on another Japanese convoy.

Lieutenant Commander Harris was sweating, despite the cold pervading the submarine through the steel hull. He always sweated when he was stalking a convoy. He stood over the plot table with several other officers, examining the maneuvering boards and other diagrams the fire control party had worked out with the navigator. It was just a matter of time before the ships they'd sighted steaming from the Honshu would pass within torpedo range. They couldn't hope to tail them with the _Grouper_'s slow submerged speed, but they could make a torpedo attack at dusk. If it was unsuccessful, and Harris kept his wits about him, they could even go for a gun attack on the surface in the dead of night.

The officer of the deck, a youngish lieutenant, nudged Harris gently. "Sir, we're coming up on our next plot check."

"Very well," Harris nodded. "Take her up."

The lieutenant turned back to his station. "Five-degree rise on the planes. Make my depth six-four feet."

With a chorus of acknowledgements, the control room crew moved into action. The planesmen adjusted the bow planes to the requisite angle. Almost reluctantly, the Gato-class submarine angled slightly upward. The hull began to pop and creak as the pressure outside lessened.

The chief of the watch monitored the ship control team, his eyes on the depth gauge and the 'bubble'. They were approaching sixty-four feet a tad too fast. The chief glanced at the junior seaman manning the bow planes. "Ease off on those a bit, son. We want to take this one nice and slow."

The sailor didn't reply, engrossed in his manipulation of the device. The chief cracked the slightest of smiles as they settled onto the correct depth. "We're at six-four feet, sir."

"Very well," the lieutenant replied. "Up 'scope." One of the sailors flipped a switch and the periscope rose from its well in the deck. The OOD flipped down the handles and brought his eye to the viewport. He quickly made a revolution with the periscope, checking their surroundings. Satisfied they were clear, he brought the scope around to the projected bearing of the Japanese convoy. He rotated one of the handles and in the mast, a new lens switched into place.

"Gotcha," he whispered. As it was, the convoy was just another example of the increasing desperation of Japan's war effort. Here they had three valuable troop transports, probably carrying fifteen thousand troops or something like that, and their 'guard' was only two small warships. He recognized the trailing one, a _Wakatake_-class destroyer. They were old hat—created a decade before the war, and forced to serve as escorts due to their poor comparison with current fleet ships, they posed little threat to the modern American sub. The lead ship, though…

"Captain?" the OOD called over his shoulder. "Would you mind taking a look at this?"

"Sure." The lieutenant cleared out of his way as he moved to peer through the periscope. "What's the problem?"

"I have no idea what that lead ship is," the junior officer replied. "Something new?"

"Shit," Harris growled. "It's that new Jap destroyer, the _Matsu_."

"Is there a problem?" the executive officer asked from the plot table.

"The _Matsu_ types are fresh out of production," the skipper answered. "No one knows exactly how they'll do. Intel says they're a stopgap, like, the Japs can't keep up production of the big ones, so they're settling for the small."

"Yeah, and when has Intel ever managed not to screw us?" The XO asked angrily.

Harris thought for a moment. "Well, whatever kind of ship it is, we're putting it on the bottom tonight."

The OOD smiled as he took the periscope back. That was the captain he knew. Using the ranging marks in the view, and after consulting the tables on the height of a _Wakatake_ he was able to give his report.

"Bearing…_mark_!"

"Three-two-zero!"

"Range…_mark_!"

"Four-zero-double-oh!"

"Angle on the bow starboard sixty."

"We'll have to increase speed and turn to starboard," muttered Harris. "See if you can CPA him at 1000 on the bow."

The XO nodded and began working on the track. Behind him the OOD lowered the periscope. This was how the game was played.

888

Hotarunosuke Morisato stood next to the railing on the deck of the _Kumanoyama Maru_, wondering if his life was going to be measured in days, months, or years. He smiled faintly. It was a morbid thought, but part of a game he'd invented for himself back in Manchuria. Of course, back then it really _had_ been a joke. They'd swiftly moved through Manchuria with brutally superior force, and he'd never felt himself to be in too much danger.

Oh, how life changes…. He'd never figured on being pulled into service again. Then again, he'd never figured on this damned war either. He'd finally managed to secure his life again, bring it into some semblance of order. Now he was stuck on a cargo ship bound for an island called…_was it Iwo Jima?_ he tried to recall.

He reached a hand into his pants pocket and withdrew a pack of issued cigarettes. Extracting one, he lit it and took a drag, closing his eyes to try and savor the feeling. After a moment he opened them to survey the sea again.

Ostensibly he was here as a backup lookout, but he wasn't sure if he'd be able to do any good. He didn't even have binoculars, and at any rate, by the time he would be able to pick anything out of this growing darkness, it would be too late to do anything. No, the only thing good about being up on the deck was the sea and the stars. He would've gone insane if he'd been trapped in that cargo hold with the gear for much longer. Out here he could feel at least a bit of the call of freedom that called young men to sea.

888

Amid the red lights of the battle-ready_ Grouper'_s control room, Harris tracked every movement of the convoy through the periscope.

"God, they're making this easy," he said to no one in particular. "They're not even zigging."

"Maybe they think they're still close enough to the Home Islands," the XO offered.

Harris shook his head as much as he could without moving his eyes from the scope. "Being close to the Home Islands hasn't meant squat recently. They just don't get it. Maybe they're running out of experienced commanders." He ran through the height and range tables again. "Nice work on the track. I'm showing them just over two thousand yards. How's the torpedo plot?"

The XO was leading the fire control party. "We're all set here. You say when you want to fire; we'll give you a bearing."

"All right. Set us up for firing in two minutes."

The XO glanced at the plot. "Recommend come to course three-zero-seven degrees true."

"Make it so," Harris grunted.

The OOD ordered the new course, then answered the sound-powered phone. "Captain, torpedo room reports tubes one through six ready in all respects."

"Very well," Harris felt his boat swing onto the new course, knew that they were as ready as they'd ever be.

The XO started his countdown. "Firing point in five…four…three…two…one… mark!"

"Fire one!" Harris barked.

The OOD slapped a switch on the wall. "_Fire!_" The submarine was filled with the _whooshing_ sound of compressed air. "Tube One fired electrically."

The torpedoes were launched in successive order, each streaking out hot, straight, and normal for the Japanese convoy.

"Reload tubes one through six," Harris ordered as he watched through the periscope.

888

Hotarunosuke tossed the cigarette over the side and leaned on the rail. _Damn_. There was no use thinking about home, unless he wanted to jump over the side and try to swim back to Honshu. He'd just have to hope that the commander of the Iwo Jima garrison wasn't a complete fool. Barring that, he still had chance of making it home one way or another.

He gave the water another sweep with his eyes. The horizon was fading out after the setting of the sun. Nothing was out there, as far as he could see.

Abruptly, his eyes caught a flicker of motion from the front of the convoy. The lead destroyer had suddenly heeled into a turn to starboard. _That's strange_. He shrugged. The Navy was weird. He'd never quite understand why they did what they did.

Then the destroyer literally blew up. Its stern was lifted clear out of the ocean as seawater geysered upward in a spectacular plume. Flames and bits of debris were scattered across the night sky. The army soldier stared in near disbelief. He started to turn and go back to wake his crew when he was pitched to desk as the _Kumanoyama Maru_ lurched violently.

"We're hit!" He didn't know who was yelling, but he knew it was the truth. He got back to his feet only to be knocked back down again by a second impact. The transport began to take on a serious list to starboard, and he struggled to get his footing on the angling deck.

Staggering back to the hold, he shouted at his men to make for the main deck. The cargo ship had become a riot of noise and activity, with alarms hooting and men shouting. Navy sailors and merchant seamen were scrambling down the passageways, rushing to put out fires and halt the enormous flood of water pouring into the ship.

It was to no avail. The _Kumanoyama Maru_ had been hit by two of the American torpedoes, and she had not been designed to survive combat. Her hull had been smashed by the American Mk. 14's, leaving five-meter-wide holes open below the waterline. The pumps had no chance to keep up with the torrent of seawater gushing through her lower decks.

The _Kumanoyama Maru _was doomed.

888

Commander Harris watched it all through the periscope. The _Matsu_-class was dead in the water and one of the transports was sinking quickly. The other destroyer was still clueless. "Battery status?" he asked.

"Forty percent," one of the control room operators answered.

"Very well." The _Grouper_ had used a significant amount of its electrical reserve during the stalk and attack. They would have to surface and recharge later in the night.

Through the lens, the Japanese ships burned. The occasional secondary explosions lit the night like deadly fireworks as ordnance cooked off or fuel tanks exploded. He evaluated the situation with trained eyes. The transport was all shot to hell; it'd be under in minutes. The destroyer was severely damaged and would probably go under as well.

For a moment he felt a pang of remorse. He had just sent an untold number of sailors and troops to a watery grave in the Pacific. The feeling passed, though. He did what had to be done to win the war, to help the Marines by stopping the Japanese reinforcements. He had done it now, and would do it in the future if necessary.

"Fortunes of war," he muttered. Turning away, he gave the deck back over to the OOD and went back to his stateroom. The _Grouper_ descended back in to the depths as it moved onto a more southerly course to continue its patrol.

Had he had time to ponder his situation dispassionately, Hotarunosuke Morisato would have been sure he would be dead within the next ten minutes. As it was, he had no time to consider the possibility.

888

The _Kumanoyama Maru_ was in its final death throes, listing thirty degrees to starboard and down on the bow. The waves lapped higher on her hull with every minute and the captain had ordered her abandoned. The companionways were stuffed with troops trying to escape from the sinking transport to no avail. Fires raged on some decks, while seawater rushed up ladder wells and flooded cargo bays.

Cries of pain and terror filled the air. There was no way to escape the steel coffin that was rapidly heading for the sea floor. Fighting his way onto the main deck, Hotarunosuke saw the lifeboats launched and hundreds of sailors and troops jumping into the frigid waters over the railings. His platoon was nowhere to be found; they had either jumped overboard or were trapped below.

He realized that to stay was to perish. Gathering his courage, he launched himself over the railing and plunged into the ocean. He was not a strong swimmer, but he managed to secure a piece of floating debris and began kicking away from the dying transport.

The _Kumanoyama Maru_ was going down quickly now, sliding beneath the surface without hesitation. The twisted hull and superstructure began to moan and creak as it was subjected forces it was never meant to experience. The waves were now breaking on the starboard-side decks; the ship was listing over forty degrees. The bow went under and the stern rose, exposing the propellers.

Faster, faster she slipped beneath the waves. The superstructure was submerged, then the after decks. Finally, with a spray of air and water in one last gasp, the stern passed into the watery depths.

Hotarunosuke watched in shock, unable to comprehend the suddenness of the sinking and the loss of his unit. It had seemed so surreal. Soldiers were meant to fight the enemy, not die in some ship a thousand miles from 'danger'. Not like this. They had never had a chance.

The other ships circled around, trying to pick up survivors. The sinking and the icy waters had taken a horrendous toll. Out of the over six thousand men on the _Kumanoyama Maru_, five hundred and forty-seven would be recovered from the sea alive.

Iwo Jima had lost one-third of its reinforcements.


	10. Casualties

Oh/ Ah My Goddess does not belong to me.

* * *

With a groan, the goddess Urd opened her eyes. _Damn, what happened?_ Her body felt like it had been pummeled, frozen, and then thawed in a deep-fryer, and her head didn't feel much better either. _The last time I felt remotely close to this was when I discovered sake…I wonder if Belldandy can—_

Her eyes widened. "Belldandy!" She sat bolt upright and instantly regretted it as waves of pain and nausea rolled over her. She nearly went under again, but Urd had certainly never been one to give up quickly. The world started to phase out, but after a moment of stillness and concentration it snapped back into focus.

Glancing down, she realized she was in some kind of bed, and the sterile, aseptic look of the room suggested some sort of medical facility. As she gingerly turned her head to examine the room, questions began popping into her head. She realized that she had no memory of coming to this place, or of anything since Celestin had—

_That's right,_ she thought bitterly. _That bastard put me out and left to fetch my sister!_ Angrily, she started to rise again, but a hand on her shoulder forestalled that action."

"Easy, there," a firm, but not unkind voice told her. "You probably shouldn't be up yet."

She looked up. Towering above her was a god best described as, well, a _giant_. "Hild's left tit, who are _you_?"

The god chuckled softly. "I think that's the first time I've ever heard it asked _that_ way." He started to smile, but something stopped the gesture from rising all the way to his eyes. "My name's Aramis." He took a closer look at her. "You're Urd, aren't you?"

"Where am I?" Urd asked. What's going on?"

The red-caped god thought for a moment. "To answer your first question, you're in the Division hospital. As for what's going on, I really don't know all that much myself."

"I'm in a _Combat Division_ hospital?" Urd asked incredulously. "How the hell did I get here? Where's Celestin?"

"Well, Celestin's been imprisoned, I know that much." Aramis shrugged. "But I have no idea how you got here."

Urd stared at him as if he was mildly crazy. "Then why were you waiting for me to wake up?"

"Well, I was actually coming in to see _him_…" Aramis pointed to the bed next to her.

The white-haired goddess turned her head to the other direction. Laying on the gurney was another god, unconscious, his exposed upper torso covered in angry red scars that were just beginning to heal from obvious trauma.

Urd was taken aback by the sight. "Almighty," she gasped. "Did Celestin fight?"

"He did," Aramis confirmed, "but this wasn't his work. This was the work of the Daimakaicho." His voice was bitter. "Hild did this."

Urd opened her mouth to speak, then shut it. Her _mother_ had done this. What could she possibly say?

"I'm sorry," she finally murmured, feeling at that moment lower than she had ever felt.

"Don't be." Aramis shook his head. "It's not like you had anything to do with it anyways."

It took a second for the words to register with the goddess. They were so simple, so mundane—a normal response. But for her, they meant _everything_. For the first time in longer than she could remember, someone hadn't looked at her and seen the child of a demon—hadn't seen the daughter of the Daimakaicho _herself_.

And the thing was, if anyone, Aramis had the greatest disposition to hate her. As a member of the Combat Division, he had probably spent his life fighting against devils, and back before the Treaty had probably lost his share of friends to the War.

Urd shivered involuntarily. _And he may even be losing one right now…_ But the point was, even though no one would have blamed him for hating her on sight, he had reassured her that she was not a demon.

Even as an indirect reference, that meant a great deal to her.

For just a moment, the shields of haughtiness and suspicion Urd had erected during her long years in Heaven to protect herself came down. For just a moment, she felt the way she had when her father had taken her hand and led her into the light.

She smiled weakly at the injured god on the gurney. "You've got a good friend here," she whispered, and she touched him lightly with her hand.

And abruptly drew it back with a sharp intake of breath. She had felt like something had _shocked_ her! Her fingertips were tingling in a way she had never felt before.

Aramis must have heard her gasp, because he turned from his thoughts and looked back at her. "Are you okay?"

"I think so," Urd replied. "But I just felt the strangest sensation…"

She would have continued, but the injured god's eyes suddenly snapped wide open. He cried out in pain and flexed against his restraints, his pupils dancing as they tracked unknown assailants.

Aramis didn't waste any time. "Healer!" he cried. "Medic!"

A handsome young god in white robes rushed into the room, looking flustered. His eyes widened as he saw the god crying through clenched teeth as his back spasmed wildly. "What in the name of…"

He rushed to a cabinet on the wall and withdrew an autoinjector filled with a pale straw-colored liquid. Grabbing it, he stabbed it down into the injured god's leg. Within a few seconds, the god's teeth unclenched and he settled back down onto the gurney.

The healer looked over at Urd and Aramis. "Did either of you do anything?" he demanded.

Urd was still shocked that her touch could provoke such a reaction. "I—I touched him, for just a second," she stammered. Her heart sank. _Maybe I really am a demon…_

The white-robed god shook his head. "I can't imagine why a touch would provoke that reaction." Frowning, he muttered an incantation and passed his hand over the god's body. His expression moved from concentration to near-disbelief. "That can't be right," he murmured, shaking his head. "Something's wrong."

Abruptly, he bent to examine the again-unconscious god. "Wow," was all he could say.

Urd took a closer look at the injured god and realized something else was happening. The angry red wounds were fading. Already they had lightened to pinkish welts, and in some places the skin had regained a normal tone.

"He's getting better," the tall god next to her breathed.

The healer had let a cautious smile form on his face. "Yes. He's recovering, although I have no idea how." He turned to Urd. "It seems, Lady Urd, that you have the magic touch." He straightened. "I'm going to have to report this and run some tests. I'll be back soon." Then he turned and nearly skipped out of the room.

Aramis turned to Urd, his expression that of wonder. "How did you…?"

She shook her head, her mouth open in disbelief, but she couldn't contain the relief she felt bubbling up inside her. _And who said Nurse Urd never healed anyone_?

Belatedly, her thoughts turned back to her sister. "Aramis, I have a favor to ask you…"

888

Baptism by fire.

That's what the other valkyries were calling her actions. She had been forced into the crucible and come out stronger for it. She had received pats on the back, whispered thanks, and voluminous praise. Had she been a fan of spirited beverages, her tab would have been picked up at any drinking establishment in Heaven.

And at the moment, none of it mattered, except for the thirteen gods she and Yazlyn had killed.

_When did it come to this?_ she asked herself forlornly. _Why did we have to strike down our own?_

Above all else, Lind considered herself a warrior. She was the defender and avenger of Heaven, sworn to protect it against all enemies. She followed a code of ethics, and prided herself on her professionalism, integrity, and morality.

When she had killed the insurgents, there had been little time to think. If she had paused to reflect, to consider all the ethical ramifications of her actions, she would have been killed.

So she had killed instead.

Many of the gods she had destroyed had had no warning, no chance to defend themselves. She had killed them in cold blood. The others had not really been a match for her, either. She had received the best training that Heaven had to offer, and she had employed it brutally. They hadn't stood a chance.

What made matters worse was these were no demons, easy to hate and therefore fight. This hadn't been a straight fight with a company of Elites, or a gallant head-on charge against the damned steeds of the Hellriders. She hadn't even been fighting in another realm in a proxy conflict as the Division was sometimes called upon to do. No, she had killed gods. _Gods_. Divine beings who represented the good in the universe. Even if they had been twisted into performing evil deeds, and misled by Celestin, they couldn't have been totally evil any more than a devil could be totally good. And that meant there was the possibility they could have been saved.

Even as the other Division members lauded her accomplishments, Lind could barely muster the cheer to smile. Her expression was almost ghostly, reminiscent of her countenance before Gwydion had taken her in.

Standing outside Division Headquarters, she felt chilly even in the perpetually warm air of the heavenly realm. Not so long ago she had stood here and wondered where her future led. Now she almost didn't care.

"Peace is hard to come by, isn't it?" The familiar voice startled her.

Lind turned slowly. "You knew I'd be here." It wasn't a question.

"I know you, Lind, as a daughter. I hope I could read your emotions at need. But in this case the task was not difficult." A long silence passed. "You aren't the first person who's sought solace."

"It was just so strange. The whole time, I don't remember ever feeling afraid. Not once. Frustrated, hopeless, determined, a whole assortment of feelings, but never afraid. And now I'm terrified. Terrified that that killer is all I really am."

Gwydion sighed. "We can teach valkyries to fight, seal, kill, and win. We can train them to be the greatest defense against evil that exists. But there's no training for how to deal with the consequences of our actions," he said.

Lind looked into his eyes. "Sensei, you told me _why_ you keep fighting, but not how. How do you deal with the pain and the fear?"

Gwydion looked off towards the glow of Heaven. "I'm not sure I can answer that. Killing is an unnatural act, at least in my opinion. To destroy another sentient being, well…it affects our very souls. As warriors, we must stand ready to kill, something which is in conflict with our innate nature."

"There are some who say that valkyries are not true gods—that our ferocity and love of battle marks us as lower, callous beings. Do you think so, Lind?"

"No," she answered softly.

"Why not?" Gwydion asked.

"I feel remorse," Lind said, "for killing those gods. But I can't think of anything else I could have done."

"And there wasn't," her mentor confirmed. "Lind, justice is uncomfortable. Even when you do the right thing, it hurts. But it also has to be done. I know that what I am doing is right and good, and I have to take comfort in that as best I can."

"Is it enough?" Lind asked.

The avenging angel turned to face her, and she realized just how haggard he looked. "No. It's not enough. But it's all there is."

Lind turned away, looking back towards the lights. A long time passed before she spoke. "We're in trouble, aren't we?"

The temporary Commander nodded. "Celestin's damage to the Division system and Yggdrasil is still being discovered and repaired. We stopped him before he could sabotage anything vital, but there's a lot of damage."

"And meanwhile, Hild moves into the Roundtable without resistance." Lind sighed.

"Most of Heaven isn't aware yet of the threat," Gwydion said. "Michael and his staff have briefed the Almighty and passed authorization down for us to pursue a counterattack."

"If it comes down to it, will the Almighty One intervene personally?"

"The Almighty's ways are as unknown to me as they are to you. He still may wield a brand, they say—but if He is forced to intervene it will mean we have failed to hold the line." He sighed. "The world isn't ready for Ragnarok—and hopefully it will never be. Unfortunately, I now have to deal with some of Celestin's bitter fruit before the harvest hits us," Gwydion growled. "He may have information about Hild's plans that we can use."

"You're going to question him?'

"I don't have a choice." Gwydion's expression hardened. "Neither does he."

888

Hotarunosuke Morisato shivered. At night, when temperatures dropped, the humid air condensed on the walls of the cave and dripped down on the soldiers inside. His sweat-soaked khaki uniform chilled him, and the damp ground was not improving matters.

Hunched over, he placed a scrap of weathered parchment on his leg and did his best to write with the leftover pencil stub the soldiers had been passing around. His calligraphy was crude and almost unreadable, but he had no other options.

Reaching into his shirt, he felt for a tattered cloth pouch. Loosening the drawstring, he reached inside and pulled out a worn photograph, smudged and creased. Barely visible in the portrait was a young boy maybe three years of age.

_Keima…_ Hotarunosuke smiled weakly. _My son. _

Even as his country had fallen down around him, Morisato had rebuilt his life. It was a guilt-stricken recruit who had left the shores of Honshu in 1931, but half a decade in Manchuria had diluted the anguish with the blood of other dear friends. _I will never forget her, but I can't live for the dead. _He had seen humanity at its best and at its worst during the war, but with the fall of northern China he had taken hope in the possibility of settlement. The Japanese government had released him from his obligation and shipped him back home.

The islands were different by then. He had just come of age when he was torn from his family and life. When he returned, he had spent a fifth of his life overseas, away from the culture that had shaped him. He had been dropped on the docks at Yokohama with a campaign bag holding all of his meager possessions and a discharge letter. His parents had moved since he had left, and if they had sent him a new address during his time overseas, he had never received it.

_But I still had a life to live. My discharge would be my reset. Nothing that happened before that day would hold me back from a new life. Was I wrong to think that way?_

Five years of held pay, even on meager conscripted wages, was enough to send him through a trade school for glass workers, and skills of that sort were in rising demand. The Empire was pulling out all stops on its quest to influence and guide the development of the East. The Imperial war machine needed men and supplies. Having given his body, he now bent his talent to working in industry, helping create glass panels for use on vehicles, ships, and aircraft.

With hard work and determination, he had been able to advance quickly in a society where merit was undoubtedly important. Within a year his skills had improved to the point where he was trusted with many complex procedures. Six months later, he was a shift supervisor.

Money in his pocket and skills in his head, Hotarunosuke had settled close to the very dock he had arrived on penniless. He had fought tooth and claw to pull himself up in the world, and succeeded admirably. But there was still something missing.

Despite his resolve, the seventh anniversary of his enlistment snuck up on him and pounced. The scars he had thought healed were just scabbed over, and alone after his shift they had ripped open. That night he found himself seated in a bar, drowning his wits with memories for company. _Chieko was the start, but there were others. Ko, Yoji, Raizo, the idealist Lieutenant Mimura…all long gone. _

He was drunk, and what was worse, he knew he was drunk. His depression was tinged with shame as he realized just how pathetic he was at that moment. The combination just encouraged him. _If I never remember this night again, I'd be content with that._ His memories had dimmed after wards, but he vaguely remembered being thrown out onto the street after some sort of conflict, and sitting there he had wallowed in pity and self-loathing until he had finally fallen unconscious.

_They say it's always darkest before the dawn._

When he had awakened the next day, his surroundings threw him. Sunlight cascaded down onto him, diffused into a gentle glow by a paper screen. He was flat on his back on a futon with a warm blanket drawn over him.

Turning his head, he wondered for a moment if he was still dreaming, his mind warped by an alcoholic stupor. This was not the cramped apartment he returned to after his long shift at the foundry. He had been dressed in a simple cotton garment; to his right he could see his clothes neatly folded and placed on the hardwood floor next to the futon.

He shook his head. Waking up in a strange place was weird, but someone had obviously taken care of him. His cheeks burned with shame as he realized he had been picked up off the street as a common drunk.

Rising, he pulled on his cleaned clothes and slid open the room's door, hoping to thank the gentleman who lived here for his hospitality. Walking into a common room, he saw an older man sitting and bowed deeply.

"My most sincere thanks for your treatment of me, sir. I apologize for my indecency of the past night."

The man rose, smiling faintly as he bent slightly at the waist. "You are most welcome, Morisato Hotarunosuke-san. I strive to take care of my workers."

Morisato felt dizzy as he recognized the man. His _boss_ had picked him up? He bowed low again "Yamada-sama, I must thank you again. I hope you will keep me in your employ…my actions have been most shameful."

"You were with the Kwantung in Manchukuo," Shinji Yamada said. "An engineer."

"Hai," Hotarunosuke confirmed. "I was."

"Then I understand," Yamada said. "I was at Liaoyang in 1904." The older smiled faintly again. "You should know, as well, that it was my daughter that insisted we pick you up." He turned his head and called out. "Mariko, please come here."

A young woman of about twenty years—not tall, but pretty—walked in from a side passage. She didn't meet his eyes, but instead bowed. "It is good to see that you are feeling better, sir," she said.

Hotarunosuke returned the gesture. "It seems I have that to thank you for, ma'am."

Just the slightest hint of a blush formed on her pale face—

_BOOM_

The ground shook gently, and around the cave small chunks of rock cascaded to the ground. Though the impact was distant, it was enough to snap Hotarunosuke out of his reverie. Other muted explosions disturbed the cave—most far away, some closer.

Some of the postcard recruits straight from basic training looked up at the cave's ceiling, fear plastered on their all-too-young faces. With every rumble they looked around as if the cave was about to collapse.

Sergeant Goto laughed shortly. "Not even close," he said for the recruits' benefit. "The Yanks have been moving in to shell the beaches. Big guns. Four hundred millimeters." He held his hands out to form a rough circle, demonstrating the size of the artillery.

"Will the navy come?" one of the recruits asked. "Are they going to drive the Americans away?"

The veterans either snickered darkly or kept silent. Goto smiled. "What did they tell you about Iwo Jima?" he asked the recruit. "That it was a vacation retreat?"

"The navy isn't coming. The army isn't coming." The sergeant grinned evilly "But the Americans are."

"Every single one of us is going to die here."

888

Celestin was kneeling, his hands and feet bound by magical cords. His posture could almost be one of penance, but his expression was totally emotionless.

He acknowledged Gwydion's entrance into the room with a nod. "Gwydion. I thought you might be coming here soon. Come to ply my mind for all my secrets, I suppose."

The avenging angel's eyes narrowed. "I don't have time for your games, Celestin. You have information I want, and you're going to give it to me."

"Ah, Gwydion…Major Gwydion," the prisoner laughed. "You fool." Celestin's words turned harsh. "You've been played for a fool all your life, and now you complete your downfall. By imprisoning me you have doomed Heaven."

"And why is that?" the warrior asked, struggling to keep his voice under control. He needed this scum.

"When Hild realizes that I have been captured, she will not hesitate to use our agreement to break the treaty. She is ready to take Heaven for her own. I think you know what I'm talking about." The Councilor's silky voice betrayed not a hint of self-reproach or doubt. "And I assure you, she is not as _benevolent_ as I would have been."

"What was your agreement?"

"She swore to support my new regime in exchange for treaty concessions on several realms." Celestin shrugged. "She was the one who faked that pulse in the Roundtable so you'd investigate."

Gwydion's expression turned deadly. "You knew all along that it was a trap. And you stood right next to me in the operations center and didn't say a word, knowing my people were going to die."

The councilor's expression didn't change. "The team's defeat was the impetus for the Division to sortie. It was necessary."

Suddenly he was on his side, and Gwydion was on top of him, the warrior's hands tightening on his throat. "You son of a bitch!" Gwydion hissed. "I kill you myself!" Celestin struggled futilely, but there was no escape from the iron grip.

Abruptly, the pressure was gone. Gwydion stood back up, his emotions in check once again. "No," the avenging angel choked out. "You don't escape that way." He hauled Celestin to his knees again. "Now tell me what Hild's plans are."

The suave confidence in the councilor's voice had faded. "It should be obvious, really. If my plans failed, she would be in striking distance of Heaven through the Roundtable. She knows its potential, and without our agreement she won't have any qualms about marching right in and deposing the Almighty One." Celestin chuckled despite himself. "Calling her one of the great opportunists of all time might be an understatement."

He looked up into Gwydion's eyes. "But you can stop her, Gwydion. Release me!" he demanded. "If I take power and restore order, Hild will back down. She will honor the agreement."

"We may not see eye to eye on most things," Celestin continued, "but the alternative is to let darkness cover the universe. You do not want to see Lind grow in such an existence. It would destroy her, and those who are good in Heaven will perish. Free me and I can create a world without fear or suffering. Leave me here and all will pass away under tide of Hell."

Gwydion shook his head. "What would make you better than Hell?" he asked. "You treat lives as something to be tossed away, inconsequential. You tried to _kill_ Lind, and _every valkyrie in Heaven_ when you moved to take over the Division and Yggdrasil. You used your own _student_ for your own ends, and didn't give a _damn_ if it broke her. You betrayed her trust." Gwydion shook his head. "Free you? _Damn _you! May you rot in all the hells there ever were."

Gwydion walked over to the cell door and turned.

"Hild wouldn't have cared whether you were in power or not. She would have invaded either way. You may have very well doomed everything and everyone you ever cared about."

He hit the release on the door and walked out, shaking his head. Lind fell into step beside him. "Did he tell you anything?" she asked.

He considered for a moment. "What he wanted to tell me. But it was enough."

888

Belldandy sat motionless at the table, her eyes open but seeing nothing, her face a still as if it were carved from stone.

In the past three hours since Aramis had pulled out of the Division hospital and brought her here, Urd had yet to see her sister even twitch.

The healer had shaken her head sadly. "She's not in a coma. If you put food in her hands, she'll sometimes eat it. If you lift her up, she can stand on her own. But her spirit isn't there."

The goddess had handed her an amphora. "This is a medicine that will erase that part of your sister's memory that remembers Celestin's rebellion. It should also repair the damage her consciousness sustained."

"I know what it is," Urd had said. "Is it really necessary?"

The healer had nodded. "The Almighty has decreed it."

Now she placed it in front of her sister. "Belldandy—I was asked to give this to you."The younger goddess gave no indication she had even heard Urd speak.

Urd continued. "If you drink this, all your unhappy thoughts will just go away." The words were hollow. _As if a lack of memory would truly erase time itself, _she thought sadly.

Belldandy continued to stare blankly ahead. Revulsion filled Urd, revulsion for the deed she had to do. Taking the stopper off the vial, she raised it to her lips and filled her mouth with the sweet potion. Then she picked up her sister in her arms and kissed her, forcing the liquid into Belldandy's mouth.

Her sister swallowed, then slowly began to weaken and fall to the floor, going limp. But even as her muscles slackened, a single tear dropped from one eye.

* * *

A/N Not much action, fighting-wise. But there's plenty where that comes from coming up. Hope you enjoyed the more thought-oriented section. Many thanks to Davner for looking over some early drafts. As always, feedback is appreciated.

Regards,

-TF


	11. The Stroke of Doom

Ah! My Goddess does not belong to me.

WARNING: This chapter contains graphic, explicit violence. READER DISCRETION IS ADVISED

* * *

"_At the hour of dusk you sit at your foxhole and look out on a wide river turning pinkish red, and at the mountains beyond, and although in the morning you must cross the river and go into the mountains and do terrible things and maybe die, even so, you find yourself studying the fine colors on the river, you feel wonder and awe at the setting of the sun, and you are filled with a hard, aching love for how the world could be and always should be, but now is not."_

_-Tim O'Brien,_ The Things They Carried

* * *

_They say the third time's the charm. It had better be._

_We won't get a fourth chance_.

It was a somber crowd that faced Gwydion as he stood behind the lectern. The events of the past few hours had shook them deeply, and for the first time in a hundred years heaven's Combat Division was reeling in defeat.

True, the threat from Celestin had largely been dealt with, and the last of the rogue god's operatives had been killed in a massive firefight that had all but destroyed the Temporal Regulatory system outbuilding. Casualties had been light for the valkyries, but when the smoke cleared the Divine Guardian of Time and almost twenty other administrative gods and goddesses had been killed in the crossfire.

Within the boundaries of Terminal Dogma, the once-white buildings were crisscrossed with scorch marks and the green grass marred with fallen rubble. It was a sight that should never have been seen, but the damage had been done and Heaven had come out the worse for it.

Gwydion shook his head. _Even if we won, there are some hurts that can never be healed. And we have won but a battle. The war has yet to be decided._

What scant intelligence they had been able to gather indicated that the Roundtable, Realm 512, had been completely overrun by Hild's forces, and they were digging in. Even with the incredible skill of the Heaven's warriors, any attempt to retake the Roundtable would quickly degenerate into a bloodbath.

_If we don't, though…_

With the information provided to him by the Yggdrasil administrators, he felt confident that Hild would use the inherent weakness of the Roundtable to open a hardline to Heaven. If that happened, she could invade and conquer the divine realm. It would be the Great War all over again. Even if she didn't follow through with an attack, her possession of such a pathway would leave her with a stranglehold on Heaven, and life as he knew it would change for the worse in ways he couldn't imagine.

Now, there was time for a last, desperate assault. The numbers were against them. The terrain was against them. Preparation was against them.

But they did have one advantage.

Gwydion recalled what Lind had said to him earlier when he had asked her if she thought she was a goddess: _"I feel remorse."_ She knew she was not a demon because she felt remorse. By their very nature, gods had to be the embodiment of good. Killing was an unnatural act, one that tore the soul.

If that was true, then what was a demon the embodiment of? Were they not the opposite of gods? What defined them? Hadn't every single one of Hild's actions been defined by selfishness and ambition? From the very beginning, the demons had been thrown out of Heaven for trying to usurp the Almighty's power.

When he had first sent in a team to M11397X4, he had regarded the move as a tactical one. Rota and her team were simply investigating a strange reading. Even after they had been repulsed by the demons, it had still been a tactical battle over a small realm. Only when Ere had discovered the link that would allow Niflheim to attack Heaven had the conflict morphed into a strategic one.

Now, he would have to count on that strategic value. The only way he could get Hild to stop the assault would be to make her withdrawal the better of two options. If demons were truly the opposite of gods—selfish, untrustworthy, ambitious, and fearful—then he could exploit those weaknesses.

It was a one in a million shot, but it was their only shot.

He cleared his throat. "Everyone, I think we have made an error in our approach to Hild's aggression. So far, we have only moved to _counter_ her actions. Every one of our actions has been reactive in nature. We've given her the initiative and her choice of battlefields, and she has used them to her advantage."

"We can't afford to let her dictate our response." He shook his head. "Not anymore. We're going to have to hit her where she's not expecting it, and hit hard. Symbolism may be just as important as actual damage in this case."

He waved a hand to indicate the brown-haired goddess next to him. "I have brought Administrator Ere here to explain part of our strategy. She will be joining us for the assault."

The brown-haired goddess stepped forward, a little unsure of herself. In the past day, she had moved from being an Yggdrasil sysop to an integral part of Gwydion's plan. She indicated the diagram projected behind her. "This is a Delta-4 processor," she said. "We've taken it from the Yggdrasil backup and hooked it into the artificial intelligence unit aboard the Great Ship."

"We're going to use it to give the Daimakaicho something to think about."

888

Urd stood before the Almighty, her expression tight with anger. "Don't give me that!" she exclaimed. "I want to know why."

Across from her, the Almighty sat behind his desk, clothed in the purest white. Metal rimmed glasses adorned his face, the left eye blacked out. Not of great stature, his appearance reflected considerable age and toil. As with most things, appearance was deceiving.

He met her gaze with his good eye. "Everyone asks why," he said. "I don't think I need to explain myself to you or anyone else."

"She's your daughter!" Urd snarled. "Your _daughter_, damn it! And now you're going to act like it never happened. Now, you may think you know best, but you better have a good reason for what you just did." Her voice trembled. "I just forced my sister to give up a part of her mind, against her will, on _your_ orders."

The old god stood slowly, smoothing down his immaculate white suit. "Would you understand?" he asked. "Would you understand all my intents and purposes? Could you?" He shook his head. "No."

He looked off to the side, his expression suddenly worlds away, and didn't speak for several minutes. Finally, he turned back to his eldest daughter.

"Belldandy would have never recovered," he said sadly. "Her time is not yet realized. But that time is coming." He sighed and looked down. "Celestin was…one of our best. His fall will not go lightly. I had hoped that teaching Belldandy would change him back to the god I once knew. That her innocence would have erased the darkness growing in him."

"You _knew_?" Urd gaped. "You knew he would do something and you did nothing?"

"I know many things," her father answered. "Foresight does not mean predestination." Reaching down, he pressed a button on his desk. "Enough. I will not explain my actions, even to you, Urd. But I will show you something."

An image sprang to life in the air above the desk: a young, raven-haired woman; tall, slender, and beautiful. On her face were the markings of a divine being, and in her eyes…

In her eyes, there was laughter, and crying, hope and despair, strength and weakness, love and anger, uncertainty and confidence. There was limitless possibility in those brown eyes.

"What has always been the hope of the present?" the Almighty asked, almost to himself.

The answer came to Urd instantly, unbidden. "The future," she breathed.

888

_BLAM-BLAM-BLAM-BLAM_

Descending whistles filled the air, each heralding the arrival of a deadly shell. All around, dirt sprayed into the air with each impact, the coarse sandy ground of the island flying in the howling wind. Solitary _cracks_ from rifles were mixed with the typewriter-sound of automatic weapons and the shrill noise of human screams.

It was a world of confusion. Voices were yelling in Japanese and English, none making any sense. Visibility was low, only a handful of feet at times. Attack turned into defense and defense into furious attack. American soldiers were here, there, everywhere, attacking with rifles, machine guns, knives, shovels, pure cussed _willpower_.

It was a world of terror. Warriors on both sides were cut down in the blink of an eye, reeling from gaping, bloody wounds, screaming in agony or stammering out final prayers amidst hot tears. Some, bleeding from their stomachs, moaned as they tried vainly to hold their intestines in as if that would keep them alive. Others twisted around, their faces blackened and burned to the bone by incendiaries, their world ended in a fiery instant.

It was a world of beauty. The bright muzzle flashes of different firearms sparkled in the twilight, lending surreal tints to the dust and smoke filling the air. High above, stunning white parachute flares burned into existence, turning the falling darkness into high noon for brief instants. Red fires burned in all directions and the cacophony of ammunition sang an unearthly chorus. With a _whoosh_, a flamethrower spat a stream of crimson hell that billowed coal-black soot.

Hotarunosuke Morisato leapt behind an earthen berm, inadvertently pushing his Arisaka carbine into the dirt. Bullets whistled past over his head, rending the air with miniature sonic booms. Ahead of him, Goto pointed towards the next set of fortifications. The sergeant made a rapid series of gestures, then rose into a crouch and dashed towards the next position. Rising with him, Hotarunosuke glanced down the slope, his eyes alert for any sign of the enemy. Ahead, a mortar dropped right in front of them. Morisato hit the ground instantly, praying he was under the blast. The fragments blew past him, but his ears rang with the blast.

Raising his head, he saw Goto crawl forward, picking up his severed right arm with his left. The sergeant seemed dumbstruck, staring at the arm in hollow contemplation. Then the pain hit him and he grimaced terribly, biting back a scream. The engineer crawled up to his companion and pulled him up by his rucksack. "Come on!"

They stumbled forward like blind men, unable to see where they were going. Goto's eyes were squeezed shut; he was crying in agony, his breath coming in ragged gasps, blindly obeying the tug of his companion. Hotarunosuke dragged him over the top of the next berm and they fell into the dugout, their limbs splayed out grotesquely. Crawling out from beneath his friend, the engineer raised his rifle and peered over the berm, firing downwards in futility.

Next to him, several Japanese soldiers cowered behind the berm, shivering, overcome by terror. Their rifles lay in the dirt, forgotten in the terror of the moment. They were unable to speak, unable to move, unable to do anything but exist in that mean state. Then a grenade fell into the dugout and turned them into bloodied pulp.

Hotarunosuke felt a searing sensation as the fragments peppered his side. He screamed as the pain hit him, but miraculously he didn't think he was hurt badly. Glancing down, he saw that Goto's eyes were still and lifeless; the sergeant had absorbed most of the blast. He was gone.

Hotarunosuke didn't think, didn't consider his options. He was beyond conscious thought. With the yell of a feral animal, he crawled over the berm and stumbled downward, firing the rifle blindly, totally unconcerned for his safety and his life.

888

"This is the future. She is the future." The white-clad god nodded. "Your sister, Skuld, goddess of the future."

Urd gazed in astonishment at the slender goddess in the hologram, realized what she was hearing. "You are going to create her for Belldandy?"

"Even with Belldandy's memories sealed, her spirit will continue to suffer. She will not heal." Her father extended a hand towards the picture. "Without the hope of a future, the present will not forget the past. Skuld is one part of that future. There is one more part."

Urd blinked. "Am I a part of that future?" she asked.

The Almighty looked at her intently, a flash of pain in his eyes. "No."

888

For what he hoped would be the last time, Gwydion stood on the bridge of the Great Ship _Peregrine_. Staring out the forward viewports, he let his eyes track the ever-shifting patterns of indefinite dimension. Strictly speaking, they were traveling through nothing. It was just that _nothing_ was a lot more than it seemed.

He turned and glanced at the goddess standing next to him.

"Do you think this can work?"

Ere nodded uncertainly. "I think so," she said. "I wish Urd was here, she understands this better. But I think I can do it."

The avenging angel nodded. He knew how she felt. Almighty, he wished Hensara was here. There were so many things he wished he had asked her about before. Now it was too late.

A strong feeling of déjà vu tugged at him. Here they were, about to enter the Roundtable for a third time. How many friends would this mission cost him? How many gods and goddesses would he have to order to their deaths? How many would he fail to protect? And if he failed, what then? What defense would Heaven have against the storm at hand?

The regimental commanders had promised him everyone they could spare. Contingency plans were already going into effect in Heaven, but he still had most of the units from _Low Bounce_. Lind was flying with him, too. She had volunteered to fight, and personal considerations aside, he couldn't afford not to have her.

_Am I really better than Celestin?_ The thought came unbidden to his mind. _Here I am, ready to sacrifice my own charge, or possibly damage her soul forever, for the sake of the greater good. Is there any difference, really, between what I'm doing and what he did?_

The Peregrine's captain turned to him. "Commander, we're about to revert into the Roundtable. Shall I sound the alert?"

Gwydion nodded, and with a gesture from the captain alarms began to blare from overhead. "Action station, action stations. All airtight doors to be closed in two minutes…" He tuned out the rest, instead moving to look at the tactical display.

In a matter seconds, they would emerge into hostile territory. His Valkyries would engage the waiting Elites in all-out battle, a battle which could not be won. They didn't need to win, though.

_All I need is time._

On a wing and a prayer, he would use that time to make the decisive stroke, or die trying.

_When did it come to this? When did this turn into a fight for our very survival?_

With a brilliant flash, the Great Ship reverted, the onetime chariot of the gods slipping into realm Five-One-Two. A surge of the subspace drive accelerated the ship forward for its rendezvous with destiny.

888

Bitterness crept into Urd's voice. "And what of _my _life?" she asked. "Am I just a tool to be tossed aside? I helped raise Belldandy, but hey, you're done with me now? _Have a nice life?_"

The pain in her father's eyes persisted. "No. Your job isn't finished, and you have much more to do." He looked down. "You know I can't say more."

Urd looked at him incredulously, shaking her head. "How am I supposed to accept this?" she asked. "How do you know whatever you're planning will actually work?"

"You might try faith, for once." The Almighty looked away. "The future is a long time. There will be a need for you," he said. "And I do not release you from your obligation to your sister. Your _sisters_."

888

"Snaplock three-six-zero!" the call came over the comm. "Hot! Declare!"

"Romeo two-six, this is Overlord," one of the _Peregrine_'s controllers answered. "Tally two bogey dope cherubs three vector three-three-zero. Cleared hot."

"Roger."

All around the _Peregrine_, valkyries and avenging angels peeled off individually or in formation as hundreds of demons rose from different chunks of debris and headed for the Great Ship. The air battle had just begun, and combatants swirled through the howling wind that made up the forsaken realm.

Lind flew into the maelstrom, gripping a poleaxe in both hands as she moved into the massive firefight. Around her, valkyries and demons fought it out, shooting, hacking, slicing, punching, and kicking.

Next to her, a valkyrie stabbed a demon through the heart with her sword, dissolving him into dust. She shouted in her victory before an energy blast sliced her head in two, leaving her to sublimate in the wind.

Shaking her head, Lind dodged a magic bolt before diving on another demon. Holding her poleaxe up, she parried his wild blow, then swung the weapon around and rent a gaping, ashy hole in his armor. The demon fell backward, clutching at the wound, out of the fight.

The Heavenly warriors were outfighting their opponents at every turn, taking out four or more hellish opponents for every loss. But the battle could not be won. For every demon that fell, ten sprang to fill his place. They were being beaten back, slowly but inevitably.

Lind looked up; saw the Great Ship far overhead as it pressed forward. _Go, Gwydion,_ she prayed. _End it._

888

The impact spun him around, dropping him to the dirt. Hotarunosuke cursed his clumsiness and tried to stand, but his leg collapsed under his weight. He reached down to push himself up, but his fingers encountered sticky wetness.

A jet of pure agony coursed up his body. It was _pain_, pain unlike anything he had ever imagined. He could see it, touch it, _taste_ it. A rainbow of torments exploded in his vision, threatening to pull him into darkness. He cried out, dropping his rifle and flopping on the ground, convulsing and crying out in physical anguish.

No matter how he moved, the pain was there, an inseparable part of his being, but he had to keep on moving, changing position, straining to find some relief to no avail. In his mind's eye, his leg was on fire, melting, the flesh falling off the bone. There was nothing he could do to stop it.

So he cried out and thrashed, as if that was the only thing left in life.

888

Ere's fingers danced across her keyboard, working with an intensity that belied their desperate need for urgency.

_if systemN=x1+a then_

_dofile 'accessfree'_

_else dofile 'reduction'_

_end_

She continued to type madly, executing each program as she wrote it. Bit by bit, the computer fed back the requisite information. With each passing moment she was closer and closer to finding the solution.

Gwydion looked over her shoulder. "We don't have much time," he reminded her unnecessarily.

She just ignored him and continued to type away.

888

From high above the battle plane, a lone figure stared downwards at the distant flashes of light. Hild frowned. Something wasn't right. Why would they do the same thing over again? This Gwydion, what kind of a god was he?

Her unease slowly built, and as the battle raged, that unease turned into the slightest trickle of fear.

888

There were voices above him, voices talking in an unintelligible language. They were speaking English. He almost didn't care. If they shot him, it would be worth it to end the agony. It was over. It was all over.

But they didn't shoot.

888

With the final keystroke, Ere finished her last calculation. "Here!" she exclaimed. "Hit it here!"

The final data calculation fed into the _Peregrine's_ AI. Moving at the speed of light, the complex computational solution entered into the Great Ship's targeting system.

The _Peregrine_'s captain looked to the bridge staff. "Report!"

The god manning the firecontrol panel took a last glance at his readout. "Solution ready!"

"Ship ready!"

"Weapon ready!"

The captain turned to Gwydion. The avenging angel nodded once, curtly.

"Match generated bearings and shoot!"

888

Hild saw the Great Ship stabilize, saw in her clairvoyance the individual electrons coursing through its weapons system, moving to a single point.

And she knew. The unease froze into unadulterated fear. Of all things, what she had never expected, until it was too late.

Below here, the EM acceleration cannon trained onto a nonexistent target, obeying the orders of its artificial intelligence. With a crackling roar, the cannon pulsed with power, firing a blessed projectile into the air. It vanished!

In the depths of Hell, at the very foundations of stone, the blue flash of a hardline heralded the approach of the celestial arrow. Down it dove, for the first time used in the role it had been designed for millennia before, for the first time striking the stroke of doom it had been created to deliver.

In the throne room of Hell, upon the very seat of Hild herself, the blessed weapon crashed.

All of Hell was shaken.

888

Around her, Lind saw the demons they were fighting pause and shiver in fear, mental discord breaking their collective concentration. Hild, who had based her rule on her threat of power, on her omnipotence, on her fiendish cunning and deadly charisma, had been proven fallible. The throne of Hell was destroyed, ruined along with her iron grip on demonkind.

For a mortal instant, her strength failed, and her forces quailed, divided in fear, lured by opportunity, unsure of everything they had been sure of only seconds before.

Lind let loose a yell, an explosion of strength and will, and smote her attacker down. Around her, the other valkyries cried out and charged forward as one warrior. Their foes fled, flinging their weapons to the ground in despair or slaying each other in their madness.

High above, Hild screamed in impotence, her will broken disastrously. With a final glare of loathing and contempt, the Daimakaicho phased out of the Roundtable, unable to comprehend her defeat.

The battle for the Roundtable, Realm Five-One-Two, was over.

* * *

Feedback is always appreciated.

Hope you enjoyed it!

-TF


	12. Conclusion

The Conclusion, and second of two updates.

Ah! My Goddess does not belong to me.

* * *

Gwydion stood before the Heavenly Council, listening.

"These events must never come to light," Michael was saying. "All that has happened must be sealed with the utmost secrecy."

Another god on the council nodded. "Heaven must never know the danger it faced." All around, serious heads nodded their agreement, confirming the wisdom of his words.

Gwydion nodded numbly. With this secrecy, the events of Celestin's rebellion and Hild's attack would never come to light. For the greater good, Rota and Hensara, and everyone else who had died in the conflict would simply fade away, unacknowledged, collectively forgotten.

There would be hell to pay, he knew. A coverup of the necessary magnitude would be nearly impossible. Too many lives had been affected; too many lives had been destroyed. But it was possible.

He wanted to care. He wanted for there to be meaning from all this. The Treaty had changed—within hours of the final attack, Hild had proposed a new article to cover the treatment of the Roundtable. But she was still on the throne of Hell, her damage-control efforts paying off. The status quo was maintained.

Lind had survived, had fought magnificently by all reports. She had proved herself, validated her training and his faith in her completely. She was a true Valkyrie, a Fighting Wing. He was proud of her, proud beyond measure.

By the same token, though, he never wanted to have to make the decision again to sacrifice someone he loved for the greater good. It was just not in him.

Reaching up, he gently unfastened his silver rank insignia and placed it gingerly on the floor. "Give these to someone else," he said. "I don't want this anymore." Then he turned and walked out.

The sound of his footsteps reverberated through an utterly silent chamber.

888

Hotarunosuke Morisato saw the plane return, leaning on a makeshift crutch he'd fashioned from a broken rifle butt. His leg was healing slowly but surely, and in time he would walk again.

The two hundred prisoners from Iwo Jima were in the small, makeshift prison camp the Americans had set up on Tinian. Two hundred prisoners out of the _eighteen thousand_ Japanese defenders on the island were left.

The war would be over soon. All the talk from the Americans was positive, hopeful. They had even shared their rations with the prisoners, treating them fairly decently for all that had happened on the barren rock that had become hell on Earth. The talk was that they would be repatriated soon, that Japan would have no choice but to acquiesce to the American advance.

The big aircraft taxied down the island's landing strip before coming to a stop. Slowly, the big radial engines spun down, and a ladder was lowered form the cockpit. The aviators climbed out slowly, their movements dazed and slow. They looked as if they had seen a ghost. As they ambled across the field to the radio shack, Hotarunosuke watched them, and wondered.

888

It was a well-done heist, executed flawlessly. The guards at the Luna prison could not understand how it had been done, or who had done it.

But the seal containing the fairy princess Morgan le Fay was unquestionably gone.

888

Belldandy woke slowly, her eyes opening to the bright light of Heaven's rising sun.

"My lady," a voice called out.

Rising slowly, Belldandy threw off the covers of her bed and looked for the speaker.

A young goddess bowed. "My lady, an urgent matter has arisen, and Lord Celestin had to leave at once."

_Celestin…_

Her thoughts turned sad at the mention of his name. She felt grief at his leaving, although there was no reason to feel that way. He had left before on errands, many times, and had never failed to return.

Her heart, though, was not calmed. In the deepest parts of her soul, she felt something missing, something she couldn't quite place.

A disturbance at the door caught her attention. In walked Urd, her expression unreadable.

"Belldandy," she said, "I have good news."

Then she smiled.

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Lind examined the saber Gwydion had presented her. After her mentor had walked out of the Council meeting, she had been pulled aside by Michael.

"Lind," he had said, "Our analysis of your performance based on the record form the battle has concluded that you have the makings of a superior Valkyrie and officer." He gestured back to the Council. "Now that Escalion has been elected to lead the Combat Division, we are in need of a regimental commander for the Valkyries. We want you."

She had nodded, accepting the golden insignia in her hand, but not spoken.

Michael had looked hard into her eyes, then smiled and extended a hand. "Congratulations, _Colonel_ Lind." He turned back to the Council. "We will be looking at your career with great interest."

She looked down at the saber again, held it in her hand, felt its weight, the texture of the hilt, the perfect balance of the weapon. It was sharp, deadly, and true, but only one purpose was etched into the cold steel.

If she followed down this path, she would never know peace. Happiness would be forever a dream just out of reach. Maybe, though, that one person she would never meet, maybe that person could be happy. But that could only happen if she continued to fight.

"I am a Valkyrie of Heaven," she whispered. "I am your shield, your sword, your defender, your avenger."

Her fingers grasped the hilt with resolve.

"I give my life so others may live."

With a quick, deft motion, she sheathed the sword and walked into the future.

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"Tadaima!" The man called out, smiling as he walked up to his house with a slight limp. His leg would probably never be the same, but at least he could walk. The bullet had damaged the femur, but it had not been shattered and so had subsequently healed. His last few months in the prisoner of war camp had allowed him to recover enough for the journey home.

His wife opened the door, joyful and shocked at the same time. _To hell with tradition and pretense_, he thought, _I've been away for too long to be formal_. He opened his arms and she nearly leaped into them as he enfolded her in a hug. "Mariko!"

"Hotarunosuke!" she cried, pulling back to look at him. "You're alive! Kami sama, but I've missed you." He looked down and kissed her passionately. He had hated the war, had hated his time as a prisoner afterwards, had hated his wound, but he realized now that it had all been worth it. _Just for this feeling. Just for what it means to me…_

They parted, and he blinked back the tears in his eyes. "It has been too long," he said, brushing her hair back with one hand, reveling in her beauty. "But it never has to be that way again."

Something flashed in the corner of his eye. Turning, he saw his five-year-old son running toward him. "Daddy!" the little boy cried.

"Keima!" he exclaimed. Kneeling down the best he could, he pulled the boy into a hug. "You've grown so much!"

"Daddy," the boy sniffled. "Are you going away again?"

Hotarunosuke paused. The last fifteen years had been bittersweet beyond belief. He'd gone from Chieko's death as he finished basic training to the war in Manchuria. He'd come back hopeless from that war only to discover that love was possible again. Doing his best to put aside his past, he'd married this woman he loved. He'd had a child with her, and celebrated this new life, only to be sent back into the ravages of an unwinnable war with a country an ocean away.

"Daddy?" Keima asked again, hesitant.

Nothing would be the same. He'd seen the very face of Hell itself—a meat grinder named Iwo Jima where young men went in and bloodstained letters came out, where hopes died with the cry of _Banzai!_ and the _crack_ of the rifle. He'd seen that fiery expanse, and lived to tell the tale. His wife had seen her share of Hell when she realized that there would be no return letters from Nagasaki, no grandparents or cousins or uncles to her son. Hell was a mushroom cloud, a flash of light that consumed the Earth itself.

The bitterness—it would never fade, he knew. It would always lurk in the backs of their minds—bitterness at their selfish leaders who brought this upon them, bitterness towards the Americans who had ensured their ruin. It had all come to naught, in the end.

Except that it had given him this moment.

"No," he whispered. "Never again."

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THE BEGINNING

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_The story of Roots is continued in Davner's "Broken Bow."_

_For the full story of Celestin, watch "Ah! My Goddess: The Movie"_

* * *

Whew. It's been a long journey. I hope you liked Roots, and I appreciate any commentary you wish to offer. Thanks for sticking with me, guys.

Yours truly,

TaskForce


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